Destiny 2‘s 15th season, Season of the Lost, came and went with a huge addition to the game. The Mara Sov-focused season arrived with a feature that’s been noticeably missing in the franchise for years now: Crossplay and cross-progression.
With rich player bases on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, the goal for the team at Bungie has been to unite all of its players under one ecosystem. Now you can play with friends in Destiny 2 no matter what system you’re playing on, and that includes the Epic Games Store as of Season of Plunder.
Crossplay is the ability to play with other players across multiple platforms, while cross-progression means that progress carries over no matter which platform you use. But it’s not as simple as you might think.
How does Destiny 2 crossplay work?
Players on all platforms are able to play Destiny 2 activities together and are not locked to platforms. To accomplish this, players have to link their Bungie accounts, so players using Steam, Xbox Live, and other services will all have a common service linking them together.
Right now, players don’t technically need to have their accounts linked to Bungie, but they will if they want to participate in crossplay. All players looking to use crossplay should create an account on Bungie.net and then link all applicable game accounts to it.
With Bungie’s self-described focus on inter-generational play, PS4 and PS5 users, as well as Xbox One and Xbox Series X players, will all be able to participate in crossplay in addition to PC players. The cross-save feature makes it so players upgrading their consoles won’t lose any progress.
For Crucible players worried about playing against the other platforms, Bungie has a solution. Bungie “won’t be matching console and PC players together in the Crucible unless PC players specifically invite their console friends to play with them in the PC Crucible pools.”
In the Crucible, PC players will play against PC players and console players will play against other console players.
How does Destiny 2 cross-progression work?
Destiny 2‘s cross-progression system is officially called Cross-Save. Cross-Save permits players to access one Destiny 2 account across multiple platforms, and their quest progress, gear, and inventories will carry over between platforms.
There is one major hitch, though: Destiny 2 expansions such as Forsaken, The Witch Queen, and Lightfall do not carry over between platforms. So if you purchased them on Steam, for example, you won’t be able to play expansion content with your characters on another platform. Season pass purchases do carry over between platforms, though.
How does the Epic Games Store fit into this?
In August 2022, Bungie announced that players could also play through the Epic Games Store. As part of Epic’s promotion, players on the Epic Games Store can pick up the 30th Anniversary Bundle for free. But like with other paid expansions, you won’t have access to the bundle if you play on other platforms.
So if you’re a Steam player looking to pick up the bundle for free and stay on Steam, that won’t work. Additionally, if you wanted to move entirely from Steam to the Epic Games Store, the expansions you purchased on Steam won’t come with you.
