Sony might not be into the cross-platforming trend in console gaming, but with a convergence of device form factors growing nearer and a recognition that not all companies can own a sustainable piece of the pie in all markets (at least not now), there is hope that corporate monoliths can react to the mood in the room.

Enter GDC 2019 and Microsoft, which has announced a keynote for a new XDK — a cross-platform software development kit — that will drastically expand its Xbox Live networking service to non-Microsoft platforms.

Windows Central took note of the event description before it was changed. It reads in part:

Xbox Live is expanding from 400M gaming devices and a reach to over 68M active players to over 2B devices with the release of our new cross-platform XDK.

Get a first look at the SDK to enable game developers to connect players between iOS, Android, and Switch in addition to Xbox and any game in the Microsoft Store on Windows PCs.

Users will be able to have access to their friends, score histories and achievements on Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch devices. Xbox Live gamer tags may be linked for real-time gaming on those devices as well. Not only that, but it seems that an integration will allow non-Xbox game achievements to be recorded in Xbox Live.

If the agenda, which has been wiped from the event listing, remains true, we could expect a big announcement next week in San Francisco.