Xbox Live's Cross-Platform Play: iOS And Android Achievements

If you thought Microsoft making a play for your exclusive gaming was powerful in their capturing of big titles like Titanfall, just wait until they've extended Xbox Live to iOS and Android. As Apple uses their own Game Center and Google uses Google Play Games, so too does Microsoft plan on extending their Xbox Live environment to both Android and iOS.

Sources speaking with The Verge suggest Xbox Live will soon be a cross-platform program. Developers will be targeted like never before, being offered an ease of integration even those working with the Xbox One or Xbox 360 directly haven't had in the past.

Functionality will be similar – it's likely that this system won't have too much to do with in-game abilities. Instead it'll be more about being certified with Microsoft's Xbox Live program and grabbing achievements and connectivity between games in a way that'll make users feel at home with the Xbox platform, no matter what they're playing on.

"'New Devices and Gaming' is looking for passionate and experienced developers to join us. Your contribution will have direct impact on how we win back our game developers from our competitors.

We will create a modern framework that is open source, light-weight, extensible and scalable across various platforms including Windows Store, Windows Phone, iOS and Android." – Microsoft job listing from Redmond

This platform will also allow users to connect to other Xbox Live players the same as the Xbox Live program does on Xbox 360 and Xbox One. If you're a PlayStation user as well as a mobile gamer used to using one of the other systems already in-play, we must assume you'll be able to continue using that system, but a big Microsoft play like this could have adverse effects in the distant future. We shall see!