Halo Wars 2 Won't Have Cross-Play at Launch, Not Ruled Out for the Future

Halo Wars 2 will not include cross-play support between the Xbox One and PC versions, Microsoft has confirmed.

In an interview with GameSpot today, 343 Industries managing editor Kevin Grace said the developer considered the feature, but ultimately it did not make the cut.

"There will not be cross-play," he told us. "When we started making the game, in 2014, there was talk about cross-play. But for scoping the game and figuring out the right things [it was not included]."

Grace went on to say that it might have been possible for Halo Wars 2 to have cross-play had the console/PC convergence efforts Microsoft has in place now been a bigger focus when development started.

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However, it sounds like cross-play could be added to Halo Wars 2 someday, though nothing is locked down at this stage. Grace teased that cross-play is "not in there for launch," suggesting it could come later.

Halo franchise director Frank O'Connor told GameSpot cross-play "would be great," but said this might be problematic, considering Halo Wars 2 is an RTS.

"The games will play very similarly," O'Connor said about the Xbox One and PC versions. "If you switch between Xbox One and PC, you'll know exactly what you're doing.

"Looking in the future, cross-play would be great, but I think right now, with RTS games in particular, it's nice to get that specificity of input."

Halo Wars 2 launches in February 2017; the game was originally pegged to come out in 2016. Check back soon for more on Halo Wars 2, including some new information and images from the game's story mode.

You can play Halo Wars 2 right now on Xbox One, as a beta for the game began today.