“Stunned” isn’t a word I normally use to describe any news in video game development lightly. Yet, that’s my genuine state of mind after learning that Crackdown 3 won’t let you easily play with friends when it launches later this week.
Joseph Staten, senior creative director for Xbox Game Studios casually revealed Crackdown 3 won’t have party support earlier today in a message on Twitter. Honestly, the tweet is pretty self-explanatory. When asked whether players will be able to “party up with friends at launch,” Staten replied, “not for day one, no.” He went on to confirm that the feature will get added after the game’s launch.
I’m all for adding features after launch. What stings about this is that Microsoft has spent weeks teasing how much fun Crackdown 3’s Wrecking Zone will be to play with other Xbox and Windows gamers. To now come out and say you can’t start an Xbox Live party with your favorite people and play together a few days before the game’s launch is bad, Tommy, bad. And that’s not taking to account how many times Xbox Games Studios has delayed this title.
This absolutely relegates Crackdown 3 to my “wait and see” pile, despite how excited I was for its February 15th launch. In fact, this game won’t make it into my Microsoft Store shopping cart until it gets proper party support.