Note: They called me mad, but who's laughing now? Today (July 21, 2016) we stand at the precipice of tearing down the wall between Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, allowing third-party games to mix their communities across platform boarders. Back in March Microsoft announced it was open to the idea, and now two developers, Psyonix (of Rocket League fame) and CD Projekt (working on The Witcher 3's spin-off card game Gwent) now say they're ready to throw the switch to enable PS4 and Xbox One players to intermingle, pending only final approval from Sony. With that in mind, please enjoy this original editorial from January 2015.

There is a wall that divides the greater community of gamers. It's the barrier that prevents two people who buy the same game, with the same features, made by the same developer and publisher, for the same price, from playing with or against each other, simply because they're on competing platforms. It exists for no real reason, other than that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo feel the need to guard their walled-garden ecosystems with the jealous ferocity of Benedict Cumberbatch in a motion-capture suit.

It’s time for cross-platform multiplayer to become the standard.It’s a shame that walled-off, platform-specific online systems are still accepted as the norm in 2015, and that platform owners show no signs of movement toward a system for open, cross-platform play, even as online gaming becomes more prominent than ever.

It doesn't have to be this way. Imagine a world where platform rivalries could be settled in the competitive multiplayer modes of Call of Duty, Battlefield, Evolve, Destiny, or Grand Theft Auto V, rather than pointless arguments in comment sections – or you could put aside your differences in co-op games like Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Assassin’s Creed Unity, or even Minecraft. You can bet that third-party publishers would love nothing more than to stoke a good-natured rivalry in-game by allowing players on each platform to brandish logos and fight for their respective "flags," and doling out Trophies and Achievements for cross-platform kills.

“ Dividing populations can be the difference between a long life and premature death.

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“ History has proven that cross-platform gaming is possible.

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“ Mentioning competitors’ platforms in their domain is a thought crime.

“ It would bring gamers together instead of promoting pointless tribal rivalry.

Fable Legends will introduce cross-platform play between PC and Xbox One this year.) Of course on the PC side of things, Windows, Mac, and Linux users have connected to common servers (many of which run Linux) for decades despite running completely different operating systems, and lately even iOS and Android gamers can interact with PC and console players through various mobile apps, such as Watch Dogs’ asymmetrical multiplayer mode. Additionally, games like Hearthstone, Frozen Synapse, and Galcon work between PC and mobile as well. Multiplayer data can flow freely across these borders – if it’s allowed to.While there are legitimate balance reasons a third-party developer might not want to allow PC gamers and console gamers to play together (such as the inherent advantage mouse-and-keyboard players have over gamepad users in shooters, and much more prevalent hacking on the PC) the difference between Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U Pro controllers is minimal – effectively a level playing field. There would also be issues with syncing up patches on both platforms, though again, that's as much an issue with getting updates through Microsoft and Sony's certification processes as producing the patches themselves.It’s not that there isn’t a way to make cross-platform gaming happen, it’s that there isn’t the will. Hidden Path Entertainment is a small cross-platform developer best known for the Defense Grid games and co-developing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with Valve; its CEO, Jeff Pobst, says he often hears requests from players Xbox One players to be able to compete against PS4 players, and vice versa, in Defense Grid 2 . “The short yet practical answer is, ‘We can’t reasonably do that – we’re sorry,’” he said in an email interview.Pobst points out that there are benefits to these policies: small developers like Hidden Path are given access to baked-in services like existing friends lists, achievement or trophy functionality, cloud saves, stat tracking and matchmaking, leaderboards, and more. Without that, the costs of development could increase dramatically, as developers would have to work to create their own systems. On the gamer side, he adds, it grants us peace of mind. “It’s good customer service, and gives the player confidence that this game, even if there are versions made for other platforms, had them and their console purchase wholly in mind.” As a long-time PC gamer, I can certainly appreciate that - nothing screams “low-quality port” like Xbox controller button prompts when there’s no controller plugged in and “Please don’t turn off your console” warning messages while saving.The outlook isn’t good for the future, either. “Without immensely increasing the budgets for the games we make or being able to use some Universal Online Gaming Service that all the platforms agree to support, the dream of having one copy of Defense Grid 2 on one platform compete directly against a player on another platform will have to wait," says Pobst.And that’s exactly it: these closed systems are the problem - the walls that divide us. The solution is an open system, supported by all major gaming platforms, allowing everyone to play with everyone, would be a good thing for everyone.

Dan Stapleton is IGN's Reviews Editor. You can follow him on Twitter to hear all about how awesome PC gaming is, plus a healthy dose of random Simpsons references.