Does Fallout 76 have crossplay and cross-platform?

It’s no mystery that adding crossplay makes video games more accessible. But is it or will it ever be an option in Fallout 76?

Here’s what you need to know about crossplay in Fallout 76. 

Does Fallout 76 have crossplay?

As of now, Fallout 76 doesn’t support cross-platform or cross-gen, so if you own a PlayStation 4, you cannot play with your friend who owns a PlayStation 5. There’s one exception to this rule: Those who play on Game Pass can play with those who have the game on Steam. There are two options when you want to use your Xbox account. First, you can play Fallout 76 using a cloud service with your Xbox account on a device with a gamepad or controller. This technically isn’t crossplay and only works as mirroring.

Another option is to use your Xbox account to play on PC with other players. But your progress and characters are entirely separate, and you must start a new save.

All platforms are separate in Fallout 76 and your progression doesn’t carry over. The progress isn’t account-wide, but that depends on the console you’re playing.

Will Fallout 76 eventually get crossplay?

Don’t keep your hopes high for crossplay or cross-platform play in the future. Microsoft owns Bethesda and has no reason to let PlayStation gamers play with people on Xbox.

Although fans may find it strange to keep crossplay off the service, not allowing crossplay benefits the individual consoles rather than the game itself. In addition to encouraging players to buy the version their friend plays to play with them, this will also enable those same people to purchase online services. If you had a friend who has the same game as you on a different platform but has crossplay, you’d have no reason to buy the game on that platform.

In addition, adding a feature like that to the game is expensive, takes a lot of time, and doesn’t have a high demand in the Fallout 76 community. According to Pete Hines of Bethesda, crossplay wasn’t included because it wasn’t on the company’s radar, nor was it desirable to add a feature that would only work on some consoles.

With a game that takes place so far in the past and is chronologically first in the Fallout lore, it seems like a no-brainer to get Fallout 76’s crossplay future up and running, considering the myriad of possibilities to be utilized and brought to fruition for Fallout fans all over the globe.