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[Zedox]

Source: https://forums.ultra-combo.com/t/ki-steam-cross-play-testing/22204

Hey Killer Instinct family, we hope you’re just as excited for the 3.9 release as we are!
When you download the latest Killer Instinct Content Update, if you haven’t done so already, you’ll undoubtedly notice something peculiar, so we wanted to give you a heads up at what’s to come before you spotted it in the wild.
Tucked away in this CU is a switch that will enable certain feature you’ve all been clamoring for, and that feature is indeed cross-play!
Yes, this is your confirmation that Killer Instinct players on Xbox One or Windows 10 will be able to play cross-network with players on Steam, as well, and we’re super excited to be able to bring that feature to you when KI launches on Steam in the coming weeks.
There is one small caveat, though. We will be testing this feature, making sure all the kinks are worked out (as best as we can) in a live environment. What that means for you is that you will see the option for cross play in your menus, but then there will be times where that menu item is turned off, and seemingly missing. Never fear, that is simply us working on things in the background, and your experience will not be affected as we do our work.
This feature being turned on/off will have 0 impact on your ability to play KI in-network, or between Xbox & Windows 10 players. So please, play to your heart’s content while we do the dirty work in the background.
Take this as your official announcement that KI will indeed feature cross play. Of course, there are still a lot more features around the KI Steam offering to go over, so keep your eye on ultra-combo.com8 for more information as we get closer to launch.
Any questions? Feel free to drop them here, and we will do what we can to answer! That’s all for now. See you in the virtual arena.
FIGHT ON!

So this is good and hopefully a sign of things to come for Steam/Windows Store/Xbox games but other networks as well (Origin, Battle.net, etc...)

 

[lucebuce12]

FUCK YEAH, this is great news. Please support this game!

 

[jediyoshi]

👐👐👐

 

[Dynasty]

Should have been there day1 tbh.

Guess not, I'll hold my hands up and admit I jumped the gun.

 

[Theorry]

Should have been there day1 tbh.

Bit difficult when it isnt on Steam..

 

[Dynasty]

Bit difficult when it isnt on Steam..

... could have sworn it released on steam?

 

[Zedox]

... could have sworn it released on steam?

Not yet...

 

[Gestault]

This is a relief of an announcement, even though the community as-is had been holding up nicely. Long term though, this was a necessity. I'm hoping there's a way to link existing purchases to the Steam release, but I haven't seen details on that. I don't have a sense of how much flexibility a publisher has for that, even with a F2P model as the backbone.

 

[nded]

Should have been there day1 tbh.

Bit quick on the draw with this hot take.

Anyway, hopefully KI finds an audience on Steam.

 

[PSqueak]

oh shit, i had forgotten about KI being on PC now that i got a computer that can potentially play it!

 

[Sad Affleck]

Very good news. Cross-play between consoles and console/PC should be a standard feature in everything that isn't a competitive shooter.

 

[Jazzem]

S'awesome, can't wait to get this Love what little I've played of it before

 

[godhandiscen]

Should have been there day1 tbh.

Guess not, I'll hold my hands up and admit I jumped the gun.

It is clear you don't even play the game. What was the intent here? Shit on Microsoft?

 

[Zedox]

Very good news. Cross-play between consoles and console/PC should be a standard feature in everything that isn't a competitive shooter.

I believe it should be standard and give users choice in which what type of users they want to play, either controller or anyInput.

 

[Dictator93]

So what are the chances that my Win 10 version can be accessed on Steam?

I want to install the game via steam and not the windows store!!!!! Having to have the game repack and unpack itself all the time and the inconsistent OSD and downsample support kills me.

 

[PSqueak]

Dunno about installing, but if i recall correctly you can set up to be able to access games through steam even if they're not steam games.

 

[SpiceMelange]

After years I'll FINALLY be able to play KI with my stick lmao

 

[Sad Affleck]

I believe it should be standard and give users choice in which what type of users they want to play, either controller or anyInput.

Oh absolutely, that would be wonderful. It's 2017, there's no good reason for multi-player gaming to be as walled off as it is.

 

[family_guy]

Since I plan on probably getting a One X, I guess I'll get the Windows 10 version so I have two copies.

 

[Radical Edward]

Good news. Hopefully there's less lag/cheating than sfv when I played against people on pc.

 

[Delusibeta]

So what are the chances that my Win 10 version can be accessed on Steam?

I want to install the game via steam and not the windows store!!!!! Having to have the game repack and unpack itself all the time and the inconsistent OSD and downsample support kills me.

It would depend on how the cross-play is implemented on Steam's end. I can't see Microsoft going through everyone's KI purchases and generating the relevant Steam key(s), but I could see Microsoft requiring Steam users to log in to Xbox Live and syncing purchases that way.

 

[The Yo Tornado]

Have they said anything more on app store purchases carrying over to Steam? I bought the full package of KI when it originally dropped for Windows 10, and I'm not too keen on having to buy everything all over again.

 

[nded]

Have they said anything more on app store purchases carrying over to Steam? I bought the full package of KI when it originally dropped for Windows 10, and I'm not too keen on having to buy everything all over again.

I wouldn't count on it. Why would you have to buy it all over again anyway? You already have the game and will be able to play with people on Steam.

 

[Skilletor]

I wouldn't count on it. Why would you have to buy it all over again anyway? You already have the game and will be able to play with people on Steam.

Win10 version has controller compatibility issues. I'd assume the Steam version doesn't.

It's not enough to make me buy it again, but I had the same question because I'd rather play it through Steam.

 

[Sony]

Best and most underrated fighter this gen.

 

[Defect]

Best and most underrated fighter this gen.

Truth

I wonder if you'll be able to sign into your gamertag on the steam version.

 

[wwm0nkey]

Nice, should help boost the community

 

[Greigor The Fellhand]

great to hear, I expect this to be a test ground for the connection, then on to other games!@!! =D

 

[Alexander DeLarge]

I hope I can port over my purchases from the UWP version because the UWP version takes up twice the space it should on my SSD.

 

[.la1n]

I welcome the new players coming in. The game is still a lot of fun for me to hop on a play even this far in. A solid fighter and I encourage anyone who was on the fence because of Windows 10 give this a shot.

 

[Plumpbiscuit]

Really good news, can't wait to get back into KI. I've bought the Definitive Edition on W10 Store the day it released and barely touched the game outside of practice with a few characters, but I already loved the mechanics, characters and stages.

 

[shawnoftheshred]

Such a great fighting game with so many welcomed features. Hope the Steam release introduces a new, large community to this crazy game.

 

[Trup1aya]

I dunno why I thought this was already announced. Great news. Glad to see that this game seems to have lasting support from MS despite not gaining the traction that other fighters have.

 

[Carlius]

Good news. Hopefully there's less lag/cheating than sfv when I played against people on pc.

the netcode at least on win10 store is fucking incredible. played with japanese players with no lag.

 

[Chun-Li]

Good news. Hopefully there's less lag/cheating than sfv when I played against people on pc.

well, KI handles rollbacks correctly unlike SFV so you'll be fine

 

[Lothars]

Best and most underrated fighter this gen.

Na it's a good fighter but there are multiple fighters better than it this gen.

 

[Karsticles]

But when is it releasing?

 

[JaseC]

So what are the chances that my Win 10 version can be accessed on Steam?

I want to install the game via steam and not the windows store!!!!! Having to have the game repack and unpack itself all the time and the inconsistent OSD and downsample support kills me.

I'd say zero. Enabling cross-play via a custom network API rather than Uplayesque XBL app integration allows Microsoft to easily explain away a lack of cross-buy support as there being no XBL account integration of any kind in the Steam version means it has no way of automatically knowing you've bought the game. In short, each version will be considered a separate product.

I'd actually long assumed Microsoft's end goal was Uplayesque XBL account integration as this would have allowed it to release its WinStore games on Steam without forgoing its own service. That it's instead taking a much more agreeable approach to playerbase unification makes me wonder if its efforts to increase WinStore uptake on the PC side have done little to nothing to improve the position of the service within the PC DD space. Sure, there's still no Steam version of, say, Gears 4, but I suspect that'll soon change now that Microsoft is on the cusp of having a road-tested Steam + XBL network API.

 

[vg260]

But when is it releasing?

Supposedly on the order of weeks, not months according to their patch release notes video. Nothing more specific known yet.

I was hoping for some sort of UPlay/Origin app to allow purchase and progress sharing, but it doesn't sound like that's in the cards. Still, just getting cross-play is pretty nice.

 

[Sony]

Na it's a good fighter but there are multiple fighters better than it this gen.

It's the best all-rounder:
- It's fun to play for the player
- It's very balanced in the roster (there was a tournament last year where nearly all characters were used in the top 8).
- It's great fun for the viewer. In an era where SFV gets shat on because "it;s not fun to watch", KI excels.

I hope they relaunch KI with the proper marketing push and attrack big name players to try it.

 

[lucebuce12]

- It's very balanced in the roster (there was a tournament last year where nearly all characters were used in the top 8).

KI World Cup, and it was top 32

 

[danmaku]

It's the best all-rounder:
- It's fun to play for the player
- It's very balanced in the roster (there was a tournament last year where nearly all characters were used in the top 8).
- It's great fun for the viewer. In an era where SFV gets shat on because "it;s not fun to watch", KI excels.

I hope they relaunch KI with the proper marketing push and attrack big name players to try it.

You could say the same for most fighters released this gen. That's how high the quality level is for fighting games.

I wouldn't count on it. Why would you have to buy it all over again anyway? You already have the game and will be able to play with people on Steam.

To avoid the nightmare of downloading and installing the game from the windows store. I gave up on KI because after I finally managed to install the game, a content patch came out and couldn't download it. I'll gladly rebuy the game on Steam just to stay away from the windows store.

 

[TheFawz]

Pretty good news, and I hope it keeps coming with them confirming that the steam version will work on more OS versions than Win10. Also very curious to see if there's any form of carryover (Progress and/or Purchase) from Xbox to Steam.

 

[Sony]

KI World Cup, and it was top 32

Even better

 

[sixteen-bit]

Will the Steam version require Windows 10?

 

[lucebuce12]

Will the Steam version require Windows 10?

I highly doubt it but I can't say for sure.

 

[JaggedSac]

Will the Steam version require Windows 10?

I believe KI is DX11, so no reason to require W10.

 

[vg260]

That screen shot only shows the exhibition screen, so it looks unclear if cross-play will be in ranked as well. Rukari says he's looking to get clarification on that in the KI forums.

 

[FyreWulff]

k, now get this on Halo Wars 1 PC

 

[big_z]

Na it's a good fighter but there are multiple fighters better than it this gen.

Like what? Some fighters do single player content better but in terms of fight mechanics and core gameplay KI is unmatched imo. I think everyone new to the series should play through a decent portion of the dojo training to get a understanting of the basic mechanics. From there it's just a matter of trying characters out. It's almost a guarantee you'll find one that clicks with how you want to play. Something the other fighters this gen lack.