Player Unknown's Battlegrounds is currently the number one most played game on Steam. The game as managed to create a huge fan base with players from across the world competing on a remote island in a "Battle Royale" style of game where 100 players drop from a plane, parachute down, and scatter through the map looting for weapons and supplies with one goal in mind: be the last man standing. To make things more challenging, the play area slowly gets smaller every few minutes via a poisonous gas that slowly drains the player's health if they fall behind the limits. The game can be played in Solo mode, Duo, or Squad with 3-4 players. The game is currently on an "Early Access" stage where the game is released to the public while still in development and slowly improving, taking into account the player's feedback.
While many new possible features and mechanics have been announced by the developers, there is one in particular that has been met with mixed feelings slowly sparking controversy among the fan base. Executive producers Chang Han Kim said in an interview that they hope to bring PC and Xbox One players together in a cross-platform setting where they can play side by side.
"Cross network play between the PC and the console is definitely something we want to do down the road, and we don’t anticipate we’ll have any technical issues with that," said Kim.
While this seems like a good idea to some, it doesn't seem that great to others, who claim the game would be "unfair" because of some of the advantages one platform may have over the other. The main concern is the aiming aspect of the game. It is very clear that in a shooter game, aiming with the mouse is way easier than aiming with a controller's joystick. The player using the mouse can achieve more movement and dexterity with it. This is why most professional competitive games are played on the PC. Aiming with the controller can be more challenging and though there are very skilled console players that can easily take on PC players, the great majority simply cannot achieve that level of precision with the controller, and this is one aspect of why its considered unfair. This is also why some console games give players the options to use what its called "Aim assist". Aim assist is a feature console players can enable on some games to help them aim better, and console games do this to help unfamiliar players have a fair chance at winning. What the feature does is its 'snaps' momentarily the player's crosshairs to their enemy when they aim down the sight near it. Some console players prefer to benefit from this feature while other console players look down upon it. Now, when it comes to cross-platform gaming, some people believe this feature is what could help console players overcome the PC advantages when it comes to aiming. However, some believe it would tip the scale completely on the other end, giving console players a huge advantage over PC players who do not have such feature. This is the other aspect of why it is considered unfair.
While many people are speculating, we still don't know how exactly PUBG developers will implement this. They have in fact amazed us with their problem solving skills and their work-arounds to problems much like this one, and that is one reason why they are in the top. They are a company that listens to what their fans what or would like to see in the future. I have high hopes for this game, and I think the end product is going to be amazing.