14 DAY TRIAL // Valve has confirmed that the intended cross-play functionality between the PC and PlayStation 3 editions of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive won’t be a part of the final game, due to issues regarding the patching process on the two platforms.
Valve impressed lots of PC and PS3 owners when it delivered a cross-platform cooperative mode in Portal 2 last year.
As such, people got even more excited when Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was revealed by the company, expecting a new cross-play support in the online first person shooter.
According to Valve writer Chet Faliszek, such a thing won’t be done, as Valve wants to deliver more patches on the PC than on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, so keeping them separate is the best course of action.
"The beta has proved we want to update not just the beta, but the game itself post-launch frequently on the PC," Faliszek told Joystiq. "To do that, we need to separate the platforms so one doesn't hamstring the other. So for that, we have removed the idea of cross-platform play - essentially make all platforms stronger by not mixing them."
Lots of PS3 owners were eager to try out the cross-play feature, largely because their console supports a mouse and keyboard setup, meaning they could play competitively against PC owners who used the same control setup.
Even with the support for the mouse and keyboard, as well as for Valve’s Steam, it seems that Sony’s longer certification process, which prevents patches from appearing on the device as soon as possible like on the PC, is still a major problem for Valve.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is currently in a closed beta stage on the PC, ran through Valve’s Steam service.
The company has confirmed this week that the final version of the game will be out in summer for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms.