Crossplay

Crossplay, short for cross-platform play, means players on different devices can join the same online games. Someone on a console can team up with a friend on a PC and another on a different brand of console, all in one match. Without crossplay, each platform has its own separate pool of players.

Crossplay is different from cross-progression, which is about carrying your own progress between devices. A game can support one, both or neither.

Friends on different devices

For families and friendship groups, crossplay removes a major barrier: you no longer all need the same console to play together. For games, it creates larger player pools, which means faster matchmaking and better-balanced matches, and it helps keep older games active for longer.

Things to know

• Not universal: crossplay is up to each game and sometimes only works between certain platforms. Check the game’s official information rather than assuming.
• Input differences: in shooters, PC players using a mouse may have an aiming advantage over controller players. Many games therefore let console players turn crossplay off or match players by input type.
• Accounts: crossplay often requires a separate publisher account linked to each platform account.
• Subscriptions: online play on consoles may require the platform’s paid subscription, even for free-to-play games, depending on the platform’s rules.

Settings for parents

Crossplay widens the pool of strangers a child may meet. Most games and consoles let you limit or turn off crossplay, and separately control who can send messages, voice chat or friend requests. When a game requires an extra publisher account, check that account’s own privacy and communication settings too, since console controls do not always cover it. A quick check of these settings whenever a new game is installed takes only a minute or two.