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Cross platform games & crossplay games explained 2023

Taking a look at some of the best cross platform or crossplay games out there

Updated: Feb 21, 2023 10:38 am
Shaun Conroy
Shaun Conroy
Cross platform games & crossplay games explained 2023

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If you’re in the dark when it comes to cross platform games or crossplay, we’re here to explain it all to you. Over the years, the gaming industry has evolved a lot, with there being more major competitors and new styles of gaming coming around. 20 years ago, there was largely only Xbox, PlayStation, and the Windows PC.

But nowadays, you have different gaming operating systems on PC, including Mac and Linux OSs.

Meanwhile, there are a large variety of console gaming, featuring Nintendo products, two generations of Xbox and PlayStation consoles still in active circulation, along with streaming platforms (rest in peace Google Stadia), and mobile gaming, whether through the app store or through app technologies like the Xbox Cloud gaming aka xCloud, just to name a few.

Read more: Video gaming statistics

As a result of the new and developing gaming market, there are quite a lot of buzzwords getting thrown around the place.

Some of these buzzwords include the likes of cross platform games, crossplay games, cross generation games, cross progression, and cross save games.

In this article, we will guide you through the terminology of gaming, along with a list of cross platform and cross-play games, to aid you through this IT jargon nightmare, and straight into the fun stuff.

What are cross platform games?

Cross platform is a technical term that simply means the software works on a variety of platforms. Now let’s apply that to gaming.

All it means for games is these games work on more than one gaming system.

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In other words, it is not a gaming exclusive. Take Microsoft for example. Games like Halo 3 on the Xbox 360 was originally a console exclusive, but since the advent of Microsoft’s gain on the PC player base and through the development of the MCC on PC, it technically means Halo 3 is now a cross platform game.

Meanwhile, Sony has plenty of exclusives, like the God of War, Gran Turismo, Horizon, Resistance, and more.

However, games like God of War 2018 and Horizon Zero Dawn are no longer PlayStation exclusives and have become cross platform with recently developed ports for the PC, years after their initial release mind you.

However, Nintendo’s IP’s are still very secure, and are largely only available in the Nintendo Switch nowadays, only becoming cross platforms if they are playable on the Nintendo DS systems or on the Nintendo Switch. See the Nintendo Store backlog for that content.

However, gaming is becoming more and more competitive across a variety of platforms. Nowadays, developers and publishers won’t fight much for exclusives on certain platforms, instead, pushing into other markets to widen their audience who are settled on their gaming platform of choice.

What we find now is more live service games targeting a variety of audiences.

See Rainbow Six Siege for example, which is playable on nearly every modern gaming platform other than mobile. But it isn’t exactly limited to live service games. See Sekiro Shadows Die Twice as an example.

The Dark Souls genre is massive, so getting making that a cross platform game rather than an exclusive is much better for business.

What is cross generation (cross-gen)?

If you come across a game that features cross-gen support, this means that the game can be played on the new and old generations of consoles.

For example, if a game was released on the Playstation 4 and 5 with cross-gen support, it wouldn’t matter which console you had. This is ideal for games that are live service. Let’s use the Rainbow Six Siege example again.

Progressing years on PS4, PC or Xbox One means players who have value don’t lose their accounts.

So, why start again on a new console? Cross generation, which largely feature cross save or cross progression if you will allow players to keep their progress, making that issue disappear for the game that have a cross generation or crass save feature.

In another example, games like Destiny 2 and Battlefield 2042 also do that.

Cross generation is an important feature for games for progression reasons.

The other important part is the stock shortages in tech. Not many gamers have got their hands on the new generation consoles because of the semiconductor supply issues since the pandemic began in 2020.

Because of this, many are still staying on older generation gaming systems, and so cross-generation support is absolutely vital in making sure the player bases don’t feel divided based on wealth or supply.

What is cross progression & cross save?

Cross progression allows any progress you’ve made in-game to be shared on different platforms.

Your game save data would be saved to an account and then if you happened to trade in your Playstation for an Xbox, you could continue the game without having to start again.

Destiny 2 is one of the standout games that offer this feature across every single platform the game is on. Meanwhile, Ubisoft games share cross progression across the PC-related systems like Stadia and Ubisoft+ account progress.

Not all cross save or cross progression games are made equally, so be aware of the distinction.

We recommend checking each individual game you’re interested in to make sure it suits your needs. Moreso, some games need you to fiddle with account connectivity to allow its cross save or cross progression feature to work correctly.

With the jargon out of the way, below you’ll find a list of games that are cross platform, crossplay, feature cross gen, or cross save.

Can crossplay be disabled?

Although more and more games are starting to offer crossplay, this may not be to everyone’s tastes. Some players prefer to match up against those on the same platform as theirs, for a multitude of reasons. Whether it be a wish to avoid clashing control schemes, or even bypass potentially longer loading times while waiting for weaker systems to load into a multiplayer game. So, many games do allow you to turn off the crossplay feature within the in-game settings, though this varies from game to game.

On the flipside, crossplay is a fantastic feature that opens up the possibility of playing with a wider range of friends. With crossplay enabled, your experience finding games online should be quicker due to a much larger playerbase to choose from.

Best Cross Platform Games / Crossplay Games

Let’s take a look at the best cross platform games in general first (which also feature cross play too).

*Cross platform, but no current support for crossplay

Other Cross Platform Games / Crossplay Games

The list grows year on year, with cross-play becoming a much bigger feature than it has been in the past.

*Cross platform, but no current support for crossplay

Free Cross Platform Games / Crossplay Games

Some of the best free cross platform games currently available are free to play too.

Xbox PC Crossplay Games

There are some Microsoft/ Xbox exclusive games that only feature crossplay between PC and your Xbox console.

Cross Platform / Crossplay Multiplayer Games

These are the best crossplay multiplayer games that you and your friends can enjoy across platforms.

Mobile Cross Platform / Crossplay games

Mobile games are now becoming more popular, here are games that have both cross platform and crossplay enabled.

NOW READ: Warcraft Arclight is currently in beta with the release date imminent to be revealed.

Upcoming Cross Platform Games

New to 2023 and beyond, we’ve kept a list for upcoming titles that are expected to be cross-platform.

*Platforms may change

Shaun Conroy

Shaun Conroy

Shaun, with a computer science degree and 15 years of computer experience, has been passionate about competitive FPS gaming since the mid-2000s.

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