Overwatch Just Got Cross-Platform: Here’s How It Works

overwatch cross platform

Overwatch has been released for over 5 years and continues to be one of the most successful online shooters to this day. It popularized the hero genre and inspired many other video games that began giving personalities and unique abilities to their characters in online gaming – which was not always a very common concept.

Since it’s 2021, everyone wants one very important thing to their video games and that’s cross-platform capabilities. Because no one wants to buy specific consoles just to play games with their friends anymore, they want to be able to play the same game no matter what hardware that they’re gaming on.

Overwatch has always been a game that stood against the tide since it did not offer cross-play for half a decade and still had no official statement on the possibility of it being added.

Fortunately, Blizzard has surprised everyone with the announcement that with their latest update, Overwatch is finally getting cross-platform multiplayer. This is a news every fan was waiting for and is delighted to hear, and it allows everyone to finally pester their friends into buying the game even if they’re on a different platform.

So, what does it mean for the game and how does it work? Let’s get right into it!

Overwatch Cross-Platform Explained

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Blizzard has released a new update for Overwatch on every platform now that allows players to play the game with each other. Players will have to get a Battle.net account which will link to their respective accounts on every console, such as the PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox console families.

This will not only merge their friends from every different platform, but also their friends from every different territory excluding China in one big unified friends list too.

However, to keep things fair, console players will only be able to play competitively with other console players and PC players will only be able to play competitively with other PC players. But with every other mode, players will be able to have cross-play multiplayer with their friends and foes with no hassle at all.

And of course, it’s ultimately still their choice if they console players want to play with PC players or not because the game will only connect you with those on other platforms if you use the Battle.net accounts linked with your console profiles.

Lastly, this update does not mean that Overwatch has cross-progression functionalities as confirmed by the developers, so you won’t be able to use the same progress or level from one platform to another. So, if you log in your Battle.net account to a different platform, you’ll need to start everything over.

An important thing to note is that while you can opt out of cross-play as mentioned above, you will only be able to play with other players who have opted out as well even if they’re on the same platform as you. This would essentially reduce the number of players you can match with, so you might want to think it twice before enabling the feature.

When will Overwatch Cross-Platform Multiplayer Go Live?

We don’t have a specific window yet, but the developers have said that it will launch ‘soon’, so you can expect the next update to add that in. And since the first game is finally getting cross-play, you can expect the sequel Overwatch 2 to have an emphasis on these features sooner than five years at least.

What Platforms is Overwatch Cross-Play On?

Overwatch is cross-play with PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X & S, PC, and the Nintendo Switch platforms. As soon as the update is enrolled and players link their Battle.net accounts to their console profiles, they will be able to play the game with players all across the planet with ease – given that they want to, of course.

So, to sum everything up:

  • Overwatch has cross-play between PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch
  • Overwatch does not have cross-progression
  • Players can opt-out of cross-play but will be unable to play with anyone who did not opt-out even on the same platform
  • The update is coming soon.

We surely can’t wait to try this out for ourselves and it’s a much-needed feature for any online game in 2021! Don’t forget to check out our guide for Overwatch 2 and its cross-platform features too while you’re here.

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