Valve Software, the developer of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the long-awaited sequel to one of the most-played PC games of all time, confirmed to Joystiq that cross-play between the computer and PlayStation 3 versions of the game has been cut.
Chet Faliszek of Valve Software confirmed the feature cut to Joystiq, citing the necessity of quick updates for a competitive game like Global Offensive. "The beta has proved we want to update not just the beta, but the game itself post-launch frequently on the PC," Faliszek said. "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."
The feature was originally supposed to be included as of last summer, when Kotaku went hands-on with an earlier build of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. PC and Mac players would have been able to take on PlayStation 3 players in online matches, with PlayStation 3 players having the option to use the DualShock controller, the PlayStation Move motion controller or even a mouse and keyboard for input. This kind of cross-platform play (sans extra controller options) was previously seen in Valve"s last major release, Portal 2, where gamers could play with each other across the PC, Mac or PlayStation 3 versions seamlessly. The Xbox 360 version was not included in this feature due to the more closed nature of Microsoft"s Xbox Live gaming platform service.
Don"t forget, the only way to get a chance to enter the currently ongoing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta is to fill out a survey on Steam.