Random Thoughts on Future Crossplay in Warframe

For Tennocon 2021, a lot of things were teased. The New War was the big teaser, finally getting a date after waiting so many years for it. But there was also something else teased, something far, far bigger than a simple, long-awaited quest. That thing was Crossplay, the ability to play Warframe with Tenno across the world, no matter what console one is using. Alongside it, we got hints about cross saves and Warframe on mobile devices. But, just like the New War trailer afterwards, there is nothing but speculation these days.

Today, I’d like to discuss the potential of Crossplay and the basically nothing we know about it.

Hosting games and missions

One of the bigger concerns that some people have is how we’ll be able to even join other players from other devices. After all, the Nintendo Switch version of Warframe isn’t nearly as powerful and responsive as someone playing on a Playstation 5. For many other games, this isn’t really a worry, but Warframe uses peer-to-peer, which means that someone in your squad is hosting the mission you’re currently playing. Is a Nintendo Switch powerful enough to host a game?

However, the more I think about it, the more I think that maybe it won’t be a huge problem. Or, at least, it’ll only be a problem that we already have with high latency and ping. After all, it’s always possible on PC to be matched with someone on a low-end computer. As long as you have a good connection, it doesn’t really matter that the host is playing on low settings.

Different Platinum markets

What I am also curious about is whether we’ll be able to cross-trade as well as crossplay. There are plenty of pretty large differences within the in-game, non-crossplay market as it is. While people on PC can get discounts of Platinum upon logging in, console users generally have special offers of in-game items. Trading in general is incredibly varied. On PC, it’s pretty easy to trade with others, and because there are so many players, the supply and demand is more spread out.

Just take a look at, for example, the Ignis Wraith blueprint. People on PC tend to give them out like candy, and the majority of players can easily get one. However, on Nintendo Switch, the event that rewarded the Ignis Wraith never happened. The only way you can obtain one is by purchasing it from Baro Ki’Teer. Or as a low drop chance in Railjack missions. At the end of the day though, it’s just supply and demand that dictate price, and people on consoles might see drops in price, as PC players enter the fold with their massive supply.

Another interesting thing to see is how Tennogen will work. Currently, Tennogen items cost Platinum on consoles, but on PC, you can only buy Tennogen gear by loading Warframe via Steam. The standalone version of Warframe doesn’t have Tennogen at all.

Crossplay is a long, long way away

Either way, we’re going to be waiting a long, long time for Crossplay. It’s an absolute monster of a request, making sure that everything works and plays nicely between different consoles, which we have many of. Personally, I don’t think we’ll see it until late 2023 at best. While I hope that we’ll be pleasantly surprised when more info turns up, we won’t have Crossplay any time soon.

Or I might be completely wrong, and the developers will catch us by surprise with an early (yet buggy) release. No matter what though, it’s not going to be a smooth ride…