Your friend owns an Xbox One and you, on the other hand, have a PlayStation 4 and would like to play together in online multiplayer mode, however you still haven't figured out if this is actually possible. Or rather, you have discovered that there are titles that allow you to play online with users from other platforms but you are not sure how to activate this feature. This is how things are and, therefore, you would like a hand to understand more on this topic, right? Then I would say that you have come to the right place, at the right time!
In fact, in today's tutorial I'll explain how to play online between PS4 and Xbox One taking advantage of some native features made available by the developers of some specific titles and, of course, without going through tricks, hacks and external devices. At this point you may be wondering how to recognize the games that offer this possibility (called crossplay) ... well, I'll tell you about that too. But let's go in order.
Courage: take five minutes of free time, read and be sure to apply the quick instructions below. I assure you that they will allow you to reach your goal in no time at all. Having said that, there is nothing left for me to do, except wish you good reading and, above all, have fun!
Index
- Preliminary information
- How to tell if a game is crossplay
- How to play online between PS4 and Xbox One
Preliminary information
Before proceeding in the detail of this guide on how to play online between PS4 and Xbox One, I think it might interest you to learn more about how the online systems of the two consoles work and how they can "collaborate" with each other.
Well, PlayStation 4 (made by Sony) e Xbox One (made by Microsoft) implement online systems that are particularly different from each other, which also exploit different infrastructures.
The Sony console has indeed PlayStation Network, while that of Microsoft takes advantage of Xbox Live: this means that the two network structures are independent of each other and, for example, one could go offline while the other could still be functional.
However, over the years, players have repeatedly expressed a willingness to play with their friends who own a "rival console". For this reason, what is called in technical jargon was born crossplay. The latter is able to "connect" between PlayStation Network and Xbox Live at the software level, so that users can play together even if they have different hardware: this is therefore a feature that must be allowed by the producers and implemented by developers.
Depending on the case, a subscription may be required to PlayStation Plus e Xbox Live Gold to access crossplay (for games that use the infrastructure of these services and do not have dedicated servers, as happens instead for some free to play titles). If you haven't done so yet, then I invite you to take a look at my guides on how to play online on PS4 and how to play online on Xbox One, in which I have explained to you in detail how the online platforms of Sony and Microsoft work.
How to tell if a game is crossplay
Il crossplay, also called cross platform play, it is very popular with the community, but it is also quite difficult to implement in a game. In fact, the problems that may arise in the development phase are many: from the difference in terms of hardware "power" (just think of PS4 and Xbox One X) up to the problems that can arise in the "connection" between the two distinct infrastructures. network and possible "stops" by hardware manufacturers.
For this reason, before you can play online with a friend who has the other console, you need to understand if the chosen title supports crossplay. At present, unfortunately, there is no label that guarantees support for this feature by a particular game, but it is still information that can be easily found online. My advice, therefore, is simply to search online for terms like [game title] crossplay and deepen this aspect.
In any case, a distinctive element to understand if a game supports crossplay or not is the presence of a account inside the title, which is quite distinct from the classic PlayStation Network and Xbox Live profiles. However, some games do not respect this rule and I urge you, therefore, not to take this information for sure.
In addition to this, it is usually the most popular online multiplayer titles that support this feature. Just think of Fortnite, Dauntless e Rocket League, all crossplay video games. For more information, I invite you to consult the list of crossplay games compiled by DigitalTrends (in English). However, I remind you that support for this feature depends on the game developers and therefore the list may not always be updated.
How to play online between PS4 and Xbox One
After explaining how to understand if a title is crossplay, I would say that you are ready to play online with your friends who have the "rival console": below you will find all the relevant instructions.
How to play online between PS4 and Xbox One on Fortnite
Fortnite is one of the titles that have been the "trailblazer" to crossplay and, of course, therefore allows you to play online between PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (and also other platforms for which the game is available).
The first thing you need to do is make sure your console is connected to Internet: To do this, I recommend that you follow my guide on how to access PlayStation Network, if you have a PlayStation 4, or my tutorial on how to connect to Xbox Live, if you have an Xbox One.
After making sure that your console is connected to the Internet, you need to add your friends to Fortnite: to proceed, start the game and press the button touchpad (PS4) or button Immagine (the one with the design of two windows, on Xbox One).
At this point, press the button square (PS4) or button X (Xbox One) of the controller and write your friend's name in the search bar. The game will automatically send a friend request.
Once your friend accepts, just press the button X (PS4) or button A (Xbox One) of the controller above its name and select the entry Invite to the group: in this way, you can play Fortnite in company.
If you just can't find your friend's account, there may be a well-defined reason. In fact, you may have decided, when you first started the game, to create a temporary account for Fortnite and this may prevent you from finding your friend's profile.
If you want to remedy this situation, know that this is possible, but you may lose your progress. In case you still want to proceed in carrying out this operation, connected to the official website of Epic Games and select the item ACCESS NOW, present at the top right. At this point, click on the icon PlayStation (first from left) o Xbox (second from left), type email address e Password related to the console account and press the key Log in.
Now, the portal will explain how to transform your temporary account into an Epic Games one, which can be used to play even with people who do not have the same platform. Then enter Your name, Last name, Visualized name, email address e Password, check the box I have read and accept: terms of service and press the gray button CREATE ACCOUNT. For more details, I invite you to check out my tutorial on how to create an Epic Games account.
Great: you have now turned your temporary profile into an Epic Games account and you will finally be able to play with your friends who come from other platforms. For more information, I recommend that you take a look at my guide on how to activate cross platform on Fortnite.
Other games
How do you say? You don't intend to crossplay Fortnite but have chosen another game that supports this feature and don't know how to activate it? No problem, I'll tell you how to do it right away.
As mentioned above, titles that support crossplay usually have an in-game account, which differs from PlayStation Network and Xbox Live ones. For this reason, the first thing you need to do is create an account for the game, by following the instructions that appear on the screen at the first start or by searching for its official website online.
After running the login with the account you just created, search in the title for the functionality for add friends, inserting the relative ones nickname and sending them friendship request. At this point, your friend will just have to accept the request and invite you to one Partita with him.
This is usually the standard procedure used by crossplay games but, of course, there may also be titles that directly implement the ability to play with users from other platforms, without having to go through an internal game account.
I cannot therefore be more precise with my indications, but in general I can assure you that the procedures to follow to play between PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are very simple to implement.
