Destiny 2 crossplay beta dates, access, and full crossplay release date explained
When you can play with Guardians on other systems.
Destiny 2 crossplay has been a long requested feature by the fans - allowing for the ability to play with other Guardians regardless of their system of choice - whether they're on PlayStation, Xbox, PC or Stadia.
2019's introduction of Destiny 2 cross saves is a step in the right direction, allowing you to take your progress to a platform of your choice, but you are then still tied to playing with others on that system.
The arrival of Destiny 2 on PS5 and Xbox Series brings this reality a little closer with the introduction of inter-generational crossplay, and Bungie has confirmed full crossplay is on the way, debuting first as part of a crossplay beta.
Before that, though, with the arrival of Season of the Splicer in May 2021, you could play crossplay in Destiny 2 early for a limited time.
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Bungie talks Destiny 2 on PS5, Xbox Series X, and cross-generation multiplayer
Destiny 2 crossplay beta dates and access explained
Bungie has confirmed a Destiny 2 crossplay beta will be available between Tuesday, May 25th and Thursday May 27th.
Running for only two days, crossplay access is available for all players across every platform in the unique Vanguard Strikes Cross Play Beta playlist.
As a reward for participating in the crossplay beta, those who complete three strikes in the playlist will be rewarded the Stars Crossed emblem:
Bungie adds that cross play is limited to this playlist - and that fireteams across friend invites across different systems is not yet available.
Ultimately, however, by playing in the playlist, you'll be playing with others on other systems for the first time. Officially, anyway - as it was possible to do so by accident earlier in the season...
How Destiny 2 crossplay was made available early
UPDATE (Friday, May 14th): As part of hotfix 3.2.0.0, Bungie has "fixed an issue where some players were able to access Cross Play early" - meaning the below methods are no longer possible. We're keeping this section available if you were interested in how players were able to get crossplay working during the short period.
ORIGINAL GUIDE: Though Bungie has confirmed crossplay is coming later in the year, the arrival of Season of the Splicer saw crossplay made available for some players.
This was recognised by Bungie community team member Cozmo on Twitter, saying the feature wasn't "meant to be live yet and is not representative of the full experience", with a fix coming during launch week of the season (from May 11th). Until then, players are "free to partake" in the feature.
So how does it work? Some players - such as GamerGirlGrey on Twitter - has had luck with clanmates from other platforms appear in the Roster menu, and can join from there.
Crossplay ?glitch? update:
— GamerGirlGrey???????? (@GamerGirlGrey) May 11, 2021
I?m able to join FT again, in the first mission from #XBOX with a #PC Destiny 2 clan mate.@JustManda_ is on PC, me and @xKingAllan are on Xbox. @A_dmg04 @Cozmo23 tagging to give you an update, still works for us. https://t.co/sXkUv8kxys pic.twitter.com/AGAhJpzUWw
The above might work for you right away. However, one reliable way of initiating crossplay with a friend came from ohgodimgonnasquirt on reddit, revealing a method that, while a little more convoluted and requires both players have access to Steam on PC, one we can verify works.
Here's how to play Destiny 2 crossplay early:
- Launch Destiny 2 on PC but don't log in - just leave the client leave it running at the 'press to play' screen.
- Launch Destiny 2 on the platform (Xbox, PlayStation or Stadia) you want to play crossplay with, and log into a character.
- The other player must now log into Steam and add you as a friend. Once done, that player should now see the console player within their Roster in-game, and can opt to join them.
- Once the Steam player joins the console player from the in-game Roster, crossplay will begin.
We assume that though the first player isn't technically logged in on PC, the Steam friend system is able to bridge the gap between systems when the game is running, even with logged in on console.
Remember, a patch to remove crossplay will come sometime during launch week - so sometime between May 12th and 16th - so make use of the early access while you can.
When it disappears, know that this shouldn't be your only opportunity to test crossplay ahead of its full debut...
Season of the Splicer has arrived! This week sees the return of Iron Banner and Vault of Glass. Next week, we'll be able to sample the Destiny 2 crossplay beta. New features include transmog and materials Synthstrand, Synthcord and Synthweave, the Splicer Gauntlet and Decrypted Data used to upgrade it, the Aspect of Interference quest, and several new Exotics and a new max level cap. As well as XP farm and Glimmer farm suggestions.
Destiny 2 crossplay release date: When will Destiny 2 offer full crossplay between PlayStation, Xbox, PC and Stadia?
Developer Bungie has confirmed Destiny 2 crossplay will be available during Season 15, which has a release date of August 10th, according to the Season of the Splicer roadmap.
Note the above date can change if it's based on when the current Season ends. For example, Season 13 (Season of the Chosen) was originally set to end on May 9th, and was then moved to the weekly reset of May 11th.
When it does arrive, Bungie has confirmed all platforms will support crossplay. Not only that, but there will be no matchmaking between console and PC players in the Crucible unless specifically invited by players themselves.
Until then, players on console can make use of cross-generational multiplayer - allowing Xbox One and Xbox Series players, and PS4 and PS5 players respectively, to play together.
