Crossplay games are ones you can play online with people on consoles or platforms different than yours. They’re increasingly common, but the landscape remains fractured, and the options can be confusing. Some games are available only in a couple of places, and it’s often unclear why some platforms are supported for crossplay and others aren’t.
Here, we’ve rounded up the best games that work on the most gaming destinations possible, so you can play with friends and family around the world. Looking for advice on gaming gear? Check out our many other product guides, including the Best Gaming Headsets , Best Gamepads , Best Gaming Mice , and Best Keyboards . Updated August 2022: We’ve added Fall Guys and Overcooked! All You Can Eat, and we discuss updates to No Man’s Sky and Apex Legends.
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Learn more . The gold standard for crossplay might be one of the most obvious, but it’s worth calling out up top. Fortnite lets players from across Windows, Xbox One and Series S/X, PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, and Android all play with their friends, no matter which platform they’re on, as long as they’re friends via their Epic account.
You can play on Mac or iOS if you’ve already downloaded the app, though new players will be out of luck for the foreseeable future . The system sorts pools of players into a complexity hierarchy and defaults to the highest tier—so all your PC friends can’t queue for a game with mobile players and destroy them, for example—but if you want to bring your friend on Android into a game on PlayStation, you can. Fortnite developer Epic also owns and operates the Unreal Engine and a huge library of developer tools, including the Epic Online Services platform .
These tools let developers add similar crossplay functionality to their own games. We mention it here because you’ll see it pop up again. If you want to play games across gaming consoles or devices, you might end up with an Epic account eventually.
Microsoft subsidiary Mojang’s Minecraft is an odd paradox of crossplay. Players can join the same servers even as they play on different platforms, but they have to be using the same version. If you’ve been playing Minecraft since it came out, you may still be on the Java Edition , which can be played across Windows, Mac, and Linux devices.
However, the Minecraft: Bedrock Edition —or just Minecraft , since 2017 —works across Windows, iOS and Android, Xbox One and Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, and even VR systems like Windows Mixed Reality and PlayStation VR. There’s a notable absence there, though: Bedrock Edition doesn’t work on most Macs. Mac players will have to use the Java Edition to play with their friends, and even then only with other computer players.
It’s a weird hurdle to get over if you’re a Mac user , but there are plenty of crossplay options if you own other devices. Innersloth, the relatively tiny developer behind the popular party/murder game Among Us , has brought the title to quite a few platforms that can all play with each other. Originally for iOS and Android, it now supports crossplay with PC and Nintendo Switch players along with every other major console.
Respawn’s Apex Legends is a team-based shooter that comes with some complications for crossplay, but the game tackles it well. It supports playing across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation systems (both current and last-gen) and the Nintendo Switch. There’s also a mobile version for Android and iOS , but you’ll only encounter other mobile players if you’re playing that version.
However, as shooter veterans know, playing with a keyboard and mouse provides a considerable advantage in terms of aiming. So if you’re on a console, you can choose to turn off crossplay and stick to players on your own platform. PC players, on the other hand, are stuck with the feature turned on, so just hope you’re better at clicking heads than someone with a control stick.
In developer miHoYo’s action RPG gacha game Genshin Impact , players can join each others’ adventures to tackle challenges together by sharing a UID code. This works across all the platforms the game supports, including Windows, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Android and iOS. The company has also announced a Switch version but hasn’t announced a release window.
When it does arrive, it should also be cross-compatible with all the other platforms. Genshin Impact , somewhat uniquely, supports cross- saving as well. So if you decide to play on your phone for a little while, you can keep all your progress when you go back to your console.
It’s a nice addition that makes this title one of those rare games where you can play anywhere with anyone and feel like you’re jumping into the same game. Psyonix’s Rocket League has proved that its concept of “What if soccer, but with cars?” is an enduring one. And thanks to using Epic’s Online Services platform, players on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, or PC can all play together.
Interestingly, PC players that play the game via Epic Game Store or Steam can participate in the cross-platform action, despite Steam being a rival game store to Epic. Who says we can’t all get along? When Fall Guys came on the scene, it was overshadowed by Among Us , but it has still maintained a healthy player base. This game is a battle royale —though the most adorable one you’ve ever seen—where 60 players compete in game-show-style obstacle courses and arenas to be the last person (er, jelly bean) standing.
Best of all, it’s recently gone free-to-play, so you don’t have to spend a dime to try it out. If you enjoy the chaos of working in a professional kitchen … well, then you’ve probably never done it in real life. Fortunately, Overcooked! All You Can Eat is a lot more fun than a real job.
This game requires players to cooperate to prepare, cook, and plate food for customers in a rapid-fire environment. This version has added crossplay across a wide variety of platforms, so you can recruit chefs from just about anywhere. For a game that began life starring an isolated spacefarer exploring a vast and unfathomably lonely universe, any kind of crossplay is already a significant change.
But as Hello Games has continued iterating on No Man’s Sky , it has added online multiplayer features where you can bump into other travelers. You can interact with players across Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 4 and 5. (It’s also coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2022 .
) It’s not a huge amount of platforms compared to most other titles on this list, but given how unique this game’s development is , it’s a worthy addition. In a recent update, No Man’s Sky has overhauled its entire capital ship system and even added new types of multiplayer missions you can take on with friends or strangers. Hi-Rez Studios’ popular MOBA Smite isn’t just a game, it’s an entire esports scene .
It’s available on all the major modern consoles, including Xbox One and Series S/X, PlayStation 4 and 5, the Nintendo Switch, as well as on PC. Any player on any of these platforms can play with each other, but only players on consoles have the ability to turn this feature off. Additionally, you can keep crossplay on for only consoles, which means you can exclude PC players, but if you do this, the ability to use a mouse and keyboard with consoles will be turned off.
Makes sense—it’s not fair to keep the same advantage that the players you just excluded had. .
From: wired
URL: https://www.wired.com/story/crossplay-games-console-pc-switch-mobile/
