Cross-play is finally coming to Apex Legends next week during the Aftermarket Collection event where a cross-play beta will be enabled for players to test out the new feature. Respawn Entertainment confirmed months ago that the feature would be released in Fall 2020 and acknowledged in its blog post on Thursday that accompanied the announcement that the feature has been a long time coming now. Cross-play will be enabled on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC platforms, and we now know how it’ll be implemented.
Once the beta goes live, cross-play will be enabled by default across all platforms. This means that console players on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will be playing against each other instead of just against those who are on the same platforms. PC players will still be playing against each other, and when the game comes to Steam, EA Origin players will be able to play against those playing on Valve’s launcher.
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“Before cross-play, each platform would only play with and against other users on the same platform,” Apex Legends game director Chad Grenier said about the plans for cross-play matchmaking. “Now, all console players will play together, and PC players will continue to play only with other PC players. We want to ensure that keyboard and mouse PC players are not being matched against console players, for reasons that should be obvious.”
However, console players still have the opportunity to play with their friends on the PC platform if they want to. To do so, you simply have to join up with a PC friend in the same party and then look for a match. PC players won’t be placed into console lobbies, but the console players will be moved to the PC lobbies to play against others on the PC platform. Adding friends across platforms to form these parties is as simple as searching for the user’s name that you want to be friends with and then sending them a request like you normally one.
If you’re not about the cross-play life at all and you just want to play against people on your own platform, you can always turn off the feature in your settings. Grenier warned that doing so may result in some long queue times though since everyone’s going to have the setting turned on by default when it’s released, so don’t be surprised if you’re waiting awhile after turning it off.
Apex Legends’ cross-play beta will arrive on October 6th.
