Several months ago, Sony announced the PlayStation 4 cross-play beta program, which allowed Fortnite users on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Mac, PC, and mobile devices to all play together, and the program is getting a new game. Rocket League now supports cross-platform play, as well, so you can play with all of your friends, regardless of which systems you own.
To enable cross-play in Rocket League, you just need to go to the “options” page of the main menu, select “gameplay,” and ensure that “cross-platform play” is checked. With this function turned on, you will automatically be matched with players on all the other systems.
The feature will work across all online match modes, but cross-platform parties aren’t enabled right now. They will be coming in the game’s first update and in the meantime, you can play in private matches if you only want to be matched up against your friends.
“Today’s announcement is an important one for us here at Psyonix, because we know how much our community has wanted full cross-platform support for quite some time,” Psyonix said in the announcement.
Rocket League is available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam, but cross-platform play was previously limited. If you were on PC, you could play with anyone on the other platforms, but those on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch were unable to play with those on PlayStation 4.
Sony’s tune has changed over the last few months and it’s likely that we’ll see other games follow suit. Minecraft is the obvious next candidate and Microsoft is enthusiastic about wanting to bring cross-play to PlayStation 4, as it’s already available between Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC, and more.
The PlayStation 4 has been able to drag its feet for so long on this issue because it is, by far, the best-selling console of the generation. More than 91 million systems have been sold since it launched in 2013, and more than 870 million games have been sold during the same period. That has created an enormous player-ecosystem, but there are certainly still times when two players want to enjoy a game together but are limited by their platforms.