In 2019, Bungie moved Destiny 2 from the Battle.net launcher to Steam on PC, launched the free-to-play version of the game, and released Shadowkeep, the game’s second major expansion.
Its biggest success from that period? It also integrated cross-save into the loot-shooter.
If you play the game on more than one platform, I’ll be preaching to the choir here, but it’s impossible to overstate how magical it feels to play the game on PS5 before switching to the PC version and picking up the same quest line exactly where I left off.
I use Bungie as an example here, though, because there’s just not that many other titles that offer the same functionality.
Destiny 2 lets players switch between platforms with ease
DO Cross The Streams
Fortnite, Call of Duty and Dauntless come to mind, but nothing in the loot-driven service game space. Warframe? Nope. Division 2? Uh uh. Monster Hunter: World? I can dream.
I should specify, as well, I’m not talking about cross-purchases. But if I love a game enough to buy it twice, I’d love to be able to carry my progress across.
Even Nintendo, a company bizarrely behind the curve in so many aspects of online play and cross-platform compatibility has made impressive strides in cross-save functionality.
Nintendo’s hybrid system can bring your save over from huge RPGs like The Witcher 3 and Divinity: Original Sin II on Steam. Even Civilization VI, a complex title with hundreds of potential permutations, can be picked up on the go.
Supergiant’s Hades, one of our favourite games of 2020, supports cross-save between Switch and PC, too.
Hades lets players carry progress over from PC to Switch in an instant
Cross-Play > Cross-Save
Ok, so there’s a hope that all of the walls between platforms will come down in the near future with cross-play – especially with the strides made in recent years.
There are still notable holdouts, sure (looking at you, FIFA) but we’re on the right track, and maybe when we can all play together, cross-save will be less important.
But still, I yearn for the day where I can pick up Borderlands 3 on my PC (just because I want to play it there) and carry over my character and loot from the Xbox version.
Of course, this is the epitome of a first-world problem and I doubt it's as easy as flicking a switch but in this future of streaming games to seemingly every device in your home, who wouldn't want to pick up a game where they leave off?