Amidst the thousands of first-person shooter games, Deep Rock Galactic has gained much traction since its release in February 2018. In fact, within a few days of its release, the game went viral among the gaming community.
Naturally, the next follow-up question that most players had regarding the game was whether or not it supported crossplay features.
If you are starting your journey exploring Deep Rock Galactic and want to play the game with your friends, this guide will explore whether or not it supports cross-play and cross-platform abilities.
Is Deep Rock Galactic Crossplay?
The answer to that is yes (but with some limitations). This means that Deep Rock Galactic supports limited crossplay.
Now, the question is, what is the extent of the crossplay abilities?
- Players using the Xbox version and those who purchased the game via the Microsoft Store on Windows can play together. This is facilitated through Microsoft’s Play Anywhere program, which allows for shared game ownership and progress across Xbox consoles and Windows PCs.
- Thanks to cross-generation support, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 users can play together. However, there is no crossplay between PlayStation and other platforms.
- Players who purchased the game on Steam can only play with other Steam users. There is no crossplay between Steam and Xbox or Microsoft Store versions.
These are the crossplay features for Deep Rock Galactic that are available now, and they might progress or change in the future, too.
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How to Enable Crossplay in Deep Rock Galactic?
Now that you better understand the available crossplay features in Deep Rock Galactic, it makes sense that you’d want to know how to enable them.
Activating the crossplay feature in this game is simple. All you have to do is follow the instructions as mentioned:
- Launch the downloaded game that’s logged into your Xbox account.
- You then have to check the settings in your Microsoft account to ensure that the cross-network play feature is enabled.
- Here’s what you need to do: Settings > General > Online Safety & Family > Xbox Privacy > View Details & Customize > Communication & Multiplayer > Allow Cross-Network Play.
- Once enabled, you can invite friends and form a crew to play the game in groups.
Note: After forming your crew with your friends, you can choose the mission and prepare your loadout to start the multiplayer gaming experience.
Is Cross-Progression Available in Deep Rock Galactic?
Besides crossplay features, another option worth considering is cross-progression. This allows players to maintain their game progress across different platforms. However, like crossplay, cross-progression is limited in the game.
Progress is shared between these platforms. If you start playing on Xbox and later switch to the Microsoft Store version on PC (or vice versa), your progress carries over seamlessly.
There is no official cross-progression support between Steam and other platforms. However, some players have used third-party tools to manually transfer files saved between Steam and Microsoft Store versions. This process is unofficial and may not be reliable.
So, if you want to ensure that your progress in the game is saved, you must keep track of the cross-progression limitations before starting the game.
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Why Does Deep Rock Galactic Not Support Full Crossplay?
Enabling full crossplay involves many technical and logistical challenges, which is also the case with Deep Rock Galactic. This explains why the game currently only supports limited crossplay features.
The following are a few significant reasons why that’s the case:
- Each gaming platform has its own network infrastructure and matchmaking services. For example, Steam has its friends network and relay servers, while Xbox relies on Microsoft’s services. Integrating these services together requires a lot of developmental efforts, which are not currently available for this game.
- Deep Rock Galactic currently uses a peer-to-peer (P2P) networking model. This means that one player hosts the game session or mission in the multiplayer mode, and other people join that session. If full crossplay were to happen, it would require dedicated servers, which is a substantial undertaking.
- One key requisite for a successful crossplay event is to ensure that the platforms are running the same version of the game unanimously. However, for different platforms, the game’s updates often roll out at different times, disrupting that unanimity.
- The Steam version of Deep Rock Galactic supports mods, which can significantly alter gameplay. Other platforms, like Xbox and PlayStation, have restrictions on modding, further explaining why the game currently has limited crossplay.
Just because Deep Rock Galactic currently has limited crossplay features doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t change in the future as more and more updates are released.
What are the Future Prospects of Crossplay for Deep Rock Galactic?
While we are on the topic of gaming updates for Deep Rock Galactic, let us assess the future prospects of the game’s crossplay abilities.
While full crossplay is not currently available, the developers have not entirely ruled out the possibility for future projects. In discussions about their upcoming title, Rogue Core, there have been mentions of potential crossplay support.
However, significant changes to the game’s infrastructure would be required for Deep Rock Galactic to make full crossplay a reality. So, we shall see what the future holds, at this point.
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Final Words
If you are immersed in Deep Rock Galactic and want to enjoy world-building and missions with your friends, the game currently offers limited crossplay features. However, don’t rule out the possibility of a full crossplay just yet. You have to understand the limitations that come with full crossplay and, at the moment, settle for what’s available to have the best cooperative experience.