In-game message reveals more details about PUBG crossplay

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is far from a new game yet fans continue to request crossplay be added to the popular battle royale game.

The PUBG development team heard these requests and subsequently confirmed the feature will be coming in October. We can expect an announcement confirming all the details soon but for the meantime this is what we know:

• Crossplay coming in “early October”
• Available to test on PTS in late September
• Console updates within two weeks of PC
• Additional details coming soon

It’s important to note that crossplay with be between console platforms only. That means Xbox One and PS4 players will enter the same lobbies, while PC will remain separate.

This makes a lot of sense due to massive difference between how the games play on PC compared to console. The gun mechanics are very different between the two and PC players enjoy far better performance in terms of responsiveness and frame rate.

Crossplay won’t bring everything

While details online remain sparse, eagle-eyed PUBG players, who play on either Xbox One or PS4, may have noticed an interesting message at the bottom of the main lobby screen.

“Cross Platform Play is coming to PUBG! Please be aware that Cross Party, Friend List, Voice Chat and Custom Match between platforms are currently not supported.”

The in-game announcement can be seen on the bottom-right hand side of the screen…

The message casts some doubt over the impact crossplay will have, at least in terms of a streamlined experience when playing with friends on a different console. Let’s say you’re a PS4 player who wants to play with someone on Xbox – in layman’s terms this indicates that you won’t be able to enter a private chat, game chat or each other on a friend list.

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This means if you have a friend on the opposite console then playing with them may be tricky. It appears crossplay will be used to boost lobby numbers rather than facilitate friends who are on different consoles.

An apparent lack of custom games between Xbox One and PS4 is also a little disappointing as this all but eliminates the potential for competitive play between the two. Whether this can or will change remains to be seen.

Good news for FPP players

While this may take the shine of the upcoming announcement, there’s one major boost. A hardcore contingent of the PUBG community have been ruing the gradual demise of FPP (first-person perspective).

Due to the game’s default mode being TPP (third person perspective) the numbers for the former have slowly dwindled to the point where full lobbies are a rarity.

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However, the fact that lobbies will now be shared between the two consoles gives a huge ‘adrenaline syringe’ in the arm of FPP players. The popular mode could return with full lobbies without the never ending wait times chicken dinner hunters are accustomed to.