Vainglory — a neat and surprisingly deep MOBA for mobile phones — is coming to consoles in “late 2019.” It’s also currently available (in alpha form) on PC and Mac. Although those versions are getting a major update early next year with the Vainglory 4.0 update. The patch will include “cross-platform play, a re-worked cross-platform UI, improved communications, new event based game modes and much more.”
That’s great, since it sounds like the desktop alphas are a little rough. But I imagine their new and improved forms will give PC players a bit of an edge over touchscreen users. Publisher Super Evil Megacorp doesn’t seem too concerned, though. The company promised that “All competitive esport play will therefore also enable PC and mobile cross-platform play from 2019 onward,” in a recent press release.
This kind of cross-platform play seems increasingly like the norm. Fortnite cross play began in earnest earlier this year — thanks to popular demand and in spite of a begrudging Sony. Meanwhile, Microsoft announced increased mouse and keyboard support at its X018 event in November. That was a sharp turn for the console manufacturer, which has previously been extremely closed-off with its peripherals.
So maybe Super Evil Megacorp has the right of it when it calls this a “post-platform era.” That said, the press release doesn’t detail which new platforms Vainglory will reach. A Switch version of a complex mobile game feels like a no-brainer, though. And the studio has made Vainglory run on iPhones and Android devices since 2015. So hopefully graphical power isn’t an issue.
Perhaps to prove parity between PC and mobile, there will be a “PC vs mobile show match to set the stage for cross-platform competitive play in 2019.” ESP Gaming will host it in Los Angeles on Dec. 16.
If nothing else, the tournament will likely be our first chance to see how well different versions of the game compete.
