Palworld has made an instant impact as both one of the most-played games on Steam and a hit for Xbox Game Pass, but is there crossplay that lets console and PC players come together?
Crossplay is the bread and butter of multiplayer-focused games these days, but it’s still not necessarily the standard. While players can team up for a session in Fortnite or Minecraft with their friends on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, PC, or mobile, there are games of all shapes and sizes that don’t afford that same luxury. But what of Palworld?
The recently released game has drummed up controversy due to its possible use of generative AI character designs but players are still pushing it to new heights. The multiplayer is a big part of that, and that feature is set to continue growing.
Does Palworld have crossplay between Xbox and PC?
Palworld’s early access does not have crossplay of any kind, but it’s set to be added in the future. When asked about Palworld having crossplay in a Discord FAQ, Pocketpair seemingly suggested that expanding its multiplayer capabilities was a point of emphasis for the development team.
“Not at launch, but we are working to make this a possibility as soon as possible,” the studio said regarding crossplay.
Palworld is a game that would lend itself well to crossplay multiplayer and it would fill a niche that isn’t currently being effectively filled by Pokemon. Nintendo games in general have traditionally struggled with effectively incorporating multiplayer, but this is most apparent in the Pokemon games.
Most mainline Pokemon games have multiplayer features completely segregated from the actual games, with battles and trades coming through a matchmaking system that nixes any direct interaction between players. This changed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet with the introduction of Union Circle multiplayer, where players could party up and play the game together. This was ultimately limited to just four players coming together in total and still afforded very limited interaction between them.
Fans have long clamored for some sort of massive multiplayer Pokemon game, but there’s no sign there will ever be one. Palworld might be able to fill that niche, to some degree.
When will Palworld get crossplay?
The developers have not confirmed when Palworld will add crossplay.
Since the game is only available for Xbox and PC, crossplay between the two platforms should be more manageable than if the game launched on more platforms. However, there is no exact date for when the crossplay feature will be available in Palworld.
If Palworld launches on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms, it’s unsure whether they will get the crossplay or if the feature will be restricted to Xbox and PC players. Since the game advertises itself as an “open world survival crafting game for up to 32 players,” not letting friends of different consoles play with each other could be seen as a questionable decision.
Unfortunately, crossplay still isn’t necessarily the standard outside live-service multiplayer games like Fortnite and Apex Legends. Other indie darlings like Stardew Valley never incorporated crossplay, so it’s not necessarily guaranteed to be completely comprehensive even if it winds up coming to PC and Xbox.