The latest Call of Duty title, Infinite Warfare, is available starting today, and I’m sure many of you have already picked your copies up. For those PC players among you still mulling over your decision to purchase, I come with words of warning: be careful which service you use to buy the game, because it’s going to limit your options for multiplayer. We already knew that Infinite Warfare players on console would be on different servers than PC players, but a FAQ on Activision’s website has revealed that the Windows Store and Steam versions will also be incompatible. Seriously. That means no cross-server play if you buy the game on Steam and your friends go through the Windows Store.
Fracturing the player base into even smaller segments reduces the pool of available competitors/cooperators at any given time, which led me to assume that this server separation is a logistical issue and not a design decision. According to a Microsoft spokesperson in contact with Windows Central , however, they “support cross-play between devices and platforms for partners who want to enable it.” Evidently, Activision is okay with the current setup.
What happens if Infinite Warfare dwindles in popularity and the majority of players move to another game? It’ll be even harder for PC players to find groups in that case, although Call of Duty seems to retain enough active players that it will hopefully never be an issue.
Source: Activision