Microsoft has created a party chat app to help keep their Xbox One and Windows PC communities more connected. This app at launch was able to support parties of eight, but that number has continued to grow and after this month’s update it will be at 16 people. The reasoning for this could be that they want to make it so you would be able to keep in touch with an entire team of people rather than just your close groups of friends.
Xbox’s head of programming, Mike Ybarra, says that the team is not satisfied just yet with 16 players, and that
[he’d] love to get that to 64 because that’ll get Battlefield and games like that which do 64 vs. 64…have at it! Now, I don’t want to be in a party of 64, but that’s a different problem! [Laughs]
64 people in a chat is a large number, but some people might like to have that option to be connected to a whole team of people to ensure great communication and team play between them. Increasing this number is not just to satisfy Xbox Live users, but also the Windows users who constantly use the app as a free party chat with their group while also enjoying the free services from the app.
This chat system will be supporting twice as many players in a party than the rivaling Playstation 4’s chat system. Could this lead to a Microsoft comeback?