Fallout 76 Has No Cross-Play Support

Fallout 76 takes the franchise in something of a new direction in that it's an always-online, multiplayer-focused game that encourages players to work together or compete. There won't be cross-play for any systems, however, Bethesda's Pete Hines said on Twitter recently.

Game director Todd Howard already talked about how Sony was to blame for the lack of cross-play support. Hines didn't mention Sony by name, but said "there are a number of reasons" for why there will be no cross-play support. He did not elaborate.

Howard told GameStar.de back in June that Bethesda wants cross-play "but right now we can't." Why? "Sony is not as helpful as everyone would like," Howard said at the time.

PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has said that Sony feels confident that it will be able to find a "solution" to the cross-play situation that is "understood and accepted by our gaming community, while at the same time supporting our business."

However, so far Sony is only talking and not making any changes to its policies. Games like Rocket League and Minecraft support cross-play on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, but not on PlayStation 4. One of Bethesda's other upcoming games, The Elder Scrolls: Legends, will support cross-play and cross-progression, leaving the PS4 edition in flux.

At QuakeCon recently, Hines talked about how Bethesda only plans to release Legends on systems that support cross-play. The iOS, Android, and PC editions support cross-play, which allows people on different systems to play together. This also means your progression and the items you buy on one platform move with you should you pick up the game elsewhere. Bethesda won't accept anything less, so something has to change with Sony's cross-play policy or Legends might not release on PS4.

"We continue to talk to all of our platform partners," Hines told Game Informer. "But those [terms] are essentially non-negotiable. We can't be talking about one version of Legends, where you take your progress with you, and another version where you stay within that ecosystem or its walled off from everything else. That is counter to what the game has been about."

Fallout 76 launches in November for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. A beta will be held in October, and it will start first on Xbox One.