Capcom has confirmed that Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite will not feature cross-platform play at launch, with PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC players staying exclusive to their respective communities. The answer came as part of a lengthy interview with producer Mike Evans, a representative of Capcom's North America team. Capcom will instead be prioritizing features including a cinematic story mode, arcade mode, and online lobbies and ensuring it's all available on its release date.

Evans goes on to say that a large reason why Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite doesn't feature cross-play between platforms is due to Capcom's experiences with Street Fighter 5's PlayStation 4/PC cross-play. Evans implies that some of the features that were missing from Street Fighter 5 at launch that made fans unhappy were in part absent due to the limitations or extra work required for cross-platform play, saying:

"For Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite the lessons learned from SF5 -- some of which were really about what users expect from a day one product -- we want to take our time and make sure it’s fully featured on day one."

Evans' commentary on the state of Street Fighter 5 at launch and its effect on Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite design decisions didn't end there, though. He also went on to imply that it's in part due to Street Fighter 5's exclusivity that cross-play was enabled, and that the decision to include the Xbox One as a supported platform is part of why cross-play is disabled in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.

"Street Fighter 5 is cross platform play and Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite will not be. We’re taking a multiplatform approach, so Xbox One, PS4, and PC. The idea behind that decision is that we want to get it in as many players’ hands as possible. We want to grow the community, we really anticipate a lot of new players coming in."

Later, Evans noted in the affirmative that "some platforms" don't play nice with each other. The conclusion should become that Capcom's priorities lie in supporting all three platforms. Cross-play between Xbox One and PlayStation 4, while now possible on paper, remains effectively unimplementable. Beyond that, implementing two different cross-platform systems for both PlayStation 4-to-PC and Xbox One-to-PC would be unreasonable.

Effectively what Capcom did with Street Fighter 5 is prove that until Sony and Microsoft figure out how to make cross-platform work between their consoles, fighting games won't be able to succeed with cross-platform games. It's either drop a major console, which Street Fighter 5 has shown isn't profitable, or incur such an expense as to not be profitable -- and still not be fully cross-platform. With that said, it's hopefully understandable why Marvel vs Capcom: Infinity is taking this path.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is slated for release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC starting September 17.

Source: VG 24/7