Overwatch Announces Cross-Play Is Coming Soon

Overwatch is bringing its player base on various platforms together, announcing that cross-play will be here shortly. Overwatch game director Aaron Keller announced in a new development update on Wednesday that the team tactical shooter is getting cross-platform play with a beta set to arrive soon.

No specific date was announced, though the blog post announcing the news noted that “when cross-play goes live, there will be some time left in season 28” of the game’s Competitive Mode. Season 28 is the current competitive season and is set to end on June 30th, so the beta should be arriving very shortly.

In celebration of cross-play, anyone who logs into their account before the end of 2021 will get a Legendary Loot Box. Cross-platform progression on cosmetics and levels is not going to come right away, though Keller noted that they are working on it in the future.

All console players (Switch, PS4, and Xbox One) will need to link their accounts with a Battle.net account for cross-play, while PC players do not have to as they obviously already have one. Players can play across system for Arcade modes, Quick Play, and Custom Games. However, competitive will have two player bases: all console systems and PC, to maintain balance between PC and console.

By default, parties of console players will be matched with other console players and PC players will be matched against PC and hybrid parties. Solo queuing in Quick Play on console will put players in the console queue. Console players can disable cross-play if they wish, but PC players cannot.