Ok, let's do this. Why do I think optional crossplay is a bad decision, my top 10 reasons.
reason nr. 1
Put it however you like, the fact is, it does split the community. There are xbox players who will never play with a pc player again. It's a shame, since some people are going to miss out on new friendships. For me, that was always the main point of this game so this is a really disappointing thing to see.
reason nr. 2
It will damage already established relationships. Of course people will still play together, if they have friends from other platforms, but we will see situations, I've talked about many months ago. Imagine you're an xbox player, playing with a few xbox friends. One of them wants you to play on an xbox only server. You do it, because why not. Now one of your friends leaves and you'll need someone else to join. Only problem is, your other friends, who are currently online, are all on PC.
reason nr. 3
this ties to the previous point, I'll have to keep track of who is playing on which platform, because inviting someone only to tell him "oh sorry, you actually can't play with us" is something I don't want to see happening.
reason nr. 4
as I understand it, it's either crossplay, or "xbox with controller only". What about PC and controller? Those guys now have a right to be properly angry about it.
reason nr. 5
i'm sorry, but it feels like this is purely business decision. And I kinda get it tbh. The bigger a company/game gets, the more it's about money, than creativity and vision. That's usualy why indie games are the ones, who push the boundaries and bring new things into gaming. I always felt like Rare made decisions about SoT based on their vision, but this time it's different and it makes me sad.
reason nr. 6
this sends a message to other developers as well as players. For developers, it's that seamless perfect crossplay isn't yet possible. I honestly thought we were almost there and that more new games will follow this model or at least learn from it. It may sound harsh, but now it will be regarded as a failed attempt to really bring people together and that it not something really worth pursuing or improving right now. (sidenote, i'm not making a prophecy or anything, it's a fact. some of you know, i work with a mid sized dev studio and this is already being talked about in there) as for players, the message is clear. yell about something loud enough and you'll get it. It opens a way to all other ridiculous requests. And for the first time, I'm not convinced, that Rare is strong enough to say no.
reason nr. 7
I've said it many times, but I still don't think the PC advantage is that big. Yes, it's there, but I firmly believe, that if you're on xbox, in maybe 75% of fights, the PC player was simply better than you. Not to mention the fact, that a lot of people really can't tell the difference, between PC and xbox player. They simply can't accept, they got killed by someone better than them. And yes, I've made the same claim a few times, when I was new. And I was really surprised, when I learned the other person was actually on xbox as well. (another sidenote, if it wasn't clear till now, I am playing on xbox)
reason nr. 8
It really fixes nothing. It's a move to make the vocal players happy. Those of us, who want to play the game as we did, with crossplay on, now feel like we've been kinda kicked to a curb. Will there be future adjustments to bring crossplay as fair as possible? Perhaps, but the message you're sending to us is, that it's not that important to you anymore. Maybe we should have yelled about this more, looks like that would have worked.
reason nr. 9
even without it being implemented yet, it already starts arguments inside the community. I'm a part of a few SoT related discord servers and on each of them, people who are good friends started to argue about this. That's not what a game like this is supposed to do and I'm sure it's not something you want to hear.
reason nr. 10 - closing message to Rare
I hate it. I hate it, i hate it. :) I've been supporting you from the first time I've heard about this game. It made me go back and play other older Rare games as well. I've made many new friends because of you, you made me start trying to be creative again. I stalk a lot of on twitter, some of you are stalking me as well :), I sometimes talk to some of you and your ex employees on discord. I know you're all very passionate about what you do and I thank you for it. Without your dedication, we wouldn't have a product as amazing as SoT is. That's why it pains me to say, that this move is very disappointing. I don't know where we'll go from here, I still hope good things are coming, but it will never be the same for me...
I wish i could downvote. Number 7 is flat out ridiculous.