It’s the age-old debate about who would win in a gunfight: PC or console player, only this time with lightsabers. When Aspyr ported Jedi Academy to the PS4 and Switch, it left a loophole open that allows PC players to invade console servers. Needless to say, console players were outclassed against the PC master race.
Last week, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy launched simultaneously on the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4. Users on both consoles quickly discovered themselves being cut down by seemingly unbeatable opponents. It was as if the Masters turned on the Padawans. As it turns out, that was literally the case.
In multiplayer games on both consoles, the server IP is visible on the screen. Due to no filters or restrictions, PC players can search for the IP in the game’s server browser and join in on some unintended cross-play. It did not take long for console players to verify they were being culled by Jedi with superior experience and laser-like controls.
“I joined a game where one player was absolutely mopping the floor with us and he had .twitchtv in his username,” said ResetEra user Max Payment. “Sure enough, I looked him up and he was playing on PC in a Switch server absolutely decimating everyone.”
Jedi Academy has been out on PC since 2003, so some of these players have years of experience dueling in multiplayer. Couple that with the speed and precision of a mouse and keyboard, and it’s no contest. It’s like handing Jar Jar Binks a broken lightsaber and throwing him in a pit with Mace Windu. Unsurprisingly, many Switch players were not amused.
Aspyr, which handled the port, received a significant number of tweets reporting the problem and suggesting fixes ranging from not displaying the IP to completely removing the ability to play across platforms. Others would rather see cross-play remain, but be more controlled.
“Nah, man. Leave it in. It’ll keep the player base more active.” said one user that was not much bothered by it. “If anything, implement a server browser and a voice/text chat and make it so it’s optional to play with pc players.”
So far, Aspyr has not commented on the situation, except to maybe offer players a cheat code.
