In order to make their games accessible to all audiences, developers need to implement different services and account systems for each game store, thereby porting their works to multiple games stores and multiple platforms. Because these services are not interoperable, players and friends who have purchased games from different game stores will not be able to play together even if they have the exact same game.
According to Epic’s official news, Epic will release a new cross-platform play tool for game developers, the first in a series of plug-and-play cross-platform play services to help them connect games and communities across platforms and stores together.
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Moreover, the cross-platform play tool of Epic Online Services now supports a seamless connection between Steam and the Epic game store. Steam players can search for friends among more than 500 million players, then connect and play, and more PCs will be available in the future. Play Store provides native support.
In addition, Epic’s cross-platform play tool will also roll out support for macOS and Linux desktops, as well as cross-platform play support for console and mobile platforms. In order to allow players to easily connect with friends from other PC game stores, the Epic online service includes an overlay that combines friends from Steam and the Epic game store into a single list.
Moreover, there is also an interface for searching for friends, sending and receiving friend requests, and joining multiplayer sessions across stores. Specifically, in the game, players can search for friends in the Steam and Epic game stores and send them invitations.
Additionally, the tool will not prompt for an email address or password, and if the other party does not have an Epic account, the system will automatically create a linked Epic account for that Steam account. Developers can download Epic Online Services SDK 1.15 and visit dev.epicgames.com to configure this cross-platform play tool in the developer portal.
