A new standalone roguelike expansion for Elden Ring doesn’t have crossplay and players aren’t particularly happy about it. Here’s what we know about theElden Ring: Nightreign crossplay feature.
Definition of Crossplay
Crossplay, or cross-platform play, is a feature in video games that allows players who play the game on different platforms to play together. As such, it doesn’t matter if you have the game on PC but your friends prefer playing that game on their consoles; if the game supports crossplay multiplayer tech, you will all be able to play together.
Why It’s Missing
We don’t have any official news on why Elden Ring Nightreign doesn’t have crossplay on release. The company hasn’t addressed the issue yet so all we have are pure speculations.
The most obvious answer would be something related to money; implementing cross-platform play requires a proper infrastructure that needs care and maintenance, which may be too much of a hassle for the company to bother with.
Some argue that the lack of crossplay may be related to the involvement of 3rd party companies and FromSoftware wants to have everything under their own control.
Until the company decides to talk about it, we won’t know for sure why Nightreign is missing crossplay.
Impact on Players
Usually, not having the crossplay feature is not a big deal. Sure, it’s great if the game has it so friends can play together regardless of the platform they’re playing on, but if that feature doesn’t exist, you either accept it and choose to play the game solo instead or, if it’s possible, try to arrange things in such a way that you can all play together.
In other words, co-op usually is not the core feature of the game. Any form of online play in games is more often than not just an addition to the base game; a large majority of games revolve entirely around single-player experience.
Any chance Elden Ring Nightreign will ever get crossplay?
byu/Fresh-Perspective-33 inEldenring
Missing cross-platform play in Nightreign, however, is particularly infuriating, as the game was developed with co-op in mind. Yes, there is an option to play solo, and one of the recent patches made it a bit easier, but the game is balanced around having a full co-op party, allowing players to coordinate their actions, draw attention, help each other, and revive fallen teammates when necessary.
As such, going in alone should be treated more like a challenge for the most dedicated players rather than something an average player should even think of attempting to do. No matter how good you are at playing soulslikes, you are not prepared for what Nightreign has in store for solo adventurers.
No crossplay means that your options for getting competent teammates are lower. Going in blind with random players can be a hit or miss, as you never know who’ll you be playing with; you’ll often end up with teammates that are more of a hindrance than a help, which will hurt your overall experience and may even lead to rage quitting. To make sure you have a proper party that consists of people who know what to do, it would be best to bring your friends with you. But what if they play the game on a different platform? Well, tough luck.
Some players argue that not having crossplay is actually a good thing, as it’s much easier to cheat on PC, which encourages people to play unfairly; this issue exists to a much lesser extent on consoles, which means console players can enjoy fairer, hacker-free gameplay this way.
Will It Be Added Later?
Seeing that FromSoftware quickly addresses feedback they get from players and they already announced that the much-anticipated duo expeditions will be added later this year, it’s not outside the realm of possibilities to think that Nightreign will get cross-platform support at a later date as well.
However, considering FromSoftware’s previous works, this is highly unlikely; there is no crossplay in Elden Ring and you won’t find it in Dark Souls games either. It’s just not something FromSoftware would do, so don’t get your hopes high. If you plan on playing the game with friends, make sure you all buy the game on the same platform to avoid disappointments.
Sources:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1kym9af/any_chance_elden_ring_nightreign_will_ever_get/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Nightreign/comments/1kzanvv/psa_play_with_randoms/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button