'Overwatch' Cross-Play Feature is Live on PC, Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation Consoles

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 22 June 2021, 06:06 pm

"Overwatch's" cross-play feature is now live, and players across different platforms such as PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, and PC will be able to group up together.

Overwatch Cross-Play

The players from all platforms will now be able to play together in Arcade, Quick Play, and Custom game modes. However, for "Overwatch's" Competitive mode, only console players will be able to play together.

On the other hand, PC players will still be limited to the same PC player group to keep the balance, given the advantages that mouse and keyboard players traditionally have in shooters.

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PC players will automatically have cross-play available starting June 22. PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch players will need to link their Blizzard Battle.net account to their console to be able to use cross-play, as reported by The Verge.

As soon as it is set up, players can join up with friends from their Battle.net list, regardless of the platform used.

Fans of "Overwatch" has been waiting for the cross-play feature for years as it is one of the biggest modern multiplayer games in 2021 that still lacked the feature.

Other major game titles like "Call of Duty Warzone," "Apex Legends," "Fortnite," already support the cross-play feature, which is now becoming the industry's top titles.

Notably, the new cross-play update that was released right after "Overwatch's" 5th-anniversary celebration, enables interaction between platforms. The game still lacks cross-progression. This means that while the players won't be limited by which platform they play, emotes, skins or other cosmetic items that they have unlocked over the years won't be available on other platforms.

There might be some hope for cross-progression, as "Overwatch" technical director John Lafleur commented in a recent Reddit AMA that it would make the most sense to tackle cross-play first and then explore cross-progression as a potential add-on in the near future.

Overwatch Ashe Event

Aside from the cross-play announcement, Blizzard also released their plan to launch the new Ashe Deadlock challenge for players, according to Republic World.

The new Ashe Deadlock challenge has been released with the help of a post on Twitter that shared a short video in which the players can spot the silhouette of Ashe in a new skin.

So, it can be estimated that Blizzard will be releasing this new skin as a reward for the event. It is also expected that the said event will bring in other cosmetics like a player icon and a spray to play the game. These rewards will be spread out amongst the time period events and challenges.

The Ashe skin in "Overwatch" has been one of the most popular releases of the game since it was launched during the Reunion animated short at BlizzCon 2018.

The new Ashe skin will have some changes to its robotic companion B.O.B as well. This is set to be released on June 22, according to PC Gamer.

Apart from the cross-play feature and the Ashe Deadlock challenge, Blizzard has revealed that they plan to release a new game which is expected to bring a lot of attention to the gaming franchise, although the developer has not spilled any more details about this highly-anticipated game.