Apex Legends is one of the best battle-royal games today. It has better gunplay than Fortnite, better performance than PUBG, and, most importantly, free. With Apex Legends being free and, at its core, encouraging team play, gamers across all platforms are grinding hours into the game. Players who have friends on different platforms still have the opportunity to play with or against each other.
One of the greatest features of modern gaming is cross-play. It allows players who have friends on other platforms to play together. Apex Legends did not have cross-play on its release, but the feature was added in early October 2020.
Apex Legends is available on the following platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC (Origin and Steam), and Nintendo Switch. All players of the platforms above can band together and play. Likewise, players from different platforms are also matched against each other.
In the interest of fairness, Apex Legends’ developer Respawn separates matches between mouse-and-keyboard players from controller-wielding users. Mouse and keyboard players are said to generally trump controller users when it comes to Apex Legends and every other competitive first-person shooter out there.
This means that controller users, or the console players, will not be matched against PC players. They are in the pool with fellow controller users. However, teams with at least one PC player, even if the other two members are console players, will be thrown into the matches for PC players.
How to Turn On Cross-play
By default, cross-play is already enabled. However, there are reasons to disable cross-play. Apex Legends on the Nintendo Switch is marred with significantly inferior performance compared to other video game consoles.
Switch players might opt to play exclusively with other Switch players to have their battles on an even playing field. Players on the Xbox and PlayStation ecosystems are discouraged from turning off cross-play since cross-play ensures more populated servers.
To turn off cross-play, the steps below should be followed:
- Click on the “Game Menu” (a cogwheel icon on the lower-right side of the screen)
- Click “Settings”
- Look for the Cross-Platform Play option
- Click “Disabled”
How to Add Friends from Other Platforms for Cross-Play
With cross-play, adding friends from different platforms is a breeze. Obviously, this will allow the players across platforms to band together. To add friends from other platforms, the steps below should be followed:
- Click the “Invite Friends” signified by the “+” icon enclosed in a diamond shape
- Click “Find Friend” on the lower-left side of the screen
- Type in your friend’s gamertag in the box provided
- Send a friend request
A friend’s platform is signified by an icon right below their name. For PC gamers, a monitor-and-CPU-tower icon will appear underneath their names, Xbox players have their logo, and PlayStation players have a generic controller as their icon, while Switch players will have joy-cons.
While Apex Legends allows cross-play, it does not have universal accounts. The game is tied to the player’s account on the platform it was created for. All unlocks, progress, and purchases are non-transferable from one platform to another.
For example, if an Apex Legends player plays on Xbox, their Apex Legends account will not appear in PlayStation or Switch ecosystems. This means that when a player buys another console not within the same family as their previous console, they won’t be able to access their other account. A “universal” account is only available on PC, with players able to connect their Steam accounts to the Origin account.
