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CODIW

For years, it's been nearly a given that the Xbox, Sony, and PC versions of a game all use separate servers, with their own playerbases. While there have been a handful of exceptions, nearly games segment each panel and PCs into their own sandboxes. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare takes things ane step further, locking Steam players and Windows 10 players into separate servers every bit well — and Microsoft isn't going out of its manner to tell people.

Right now, Call of Duty: Infinite Remake Warfare is significantly discounted on the Windows Store compared with the Steam version. Even the Digital Deluxe version, which comes with a copy of the remade Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, is cheaper than on Steam. Activision's FAQ, however, confirms that neither of the titles is an Xbox Play Anywhere title — and the servers for Windows Store are completely dissever from the Steam version.

Activision-FAQ

According to Microsoft, this wasn't a problem on their terminate — it was Activision's decision. "We support cross-play between devices and platforms for partners who want to enable it," Microsoft said in a comment to Windows Central. The company too clarified that UWP and Win32 are fully compatible for cross-play, and that in that location's no reason to segregate users in this fashion.

In this example, telling people not to buy the Windows Shop variant seems a bit unfair, since (for once) information technology's not problems with Microsoft'southward platform causing an effect. Nevertheless, that's the situation we're in. The chances of any kind of cohesive community congregating around the Windows Store version of the game is basically zero, especially in one case players realize that this version of the game is walled off from the actual PC ecosystem. There's no give-and-take from Activision on why it opted for this siloing, only it hasn't denied Microsoft's statements and information technology'south not going to over well with the game's playerbase. It also means, once again, the Windows Shop version of a game is flatly junior to the Steam variant. The one matter we will ding Microsoft for is the fact that this restriction isn't mentioned anywhere on the game'southward Windows Store page.

CoD-IF

It should exist mandatory to communicate these limitations up front and immediately. As it stands, y'all can buy this game on the Windows Store, play through the unmarried-histrion entrada, and only then realize that yous've purchased the right to game in a ghost boondocks. Nothing we've heard near the Windows Store suggests that information technology'll accept more than a small handful of players. It'south a nasty bait-and-switch for a franchise generally known for its online play, and this is one aspect of the state of affairs Microsoft could remedy.