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If you haven’t gone back and revisited 2017’s Star Wars Battlefront 2 recently, you should. Despite the huge controversies that swirled around the game when it was first released, post-launch changes have turned Battlefront 2 into a much more enjoyable game to play now. Some issues still remain – it can feel overly grindy, for instance, and it can take a little time to unlock the heroes you really want to play as – but for the most part, Battlefront 2 is an infinitely more playable title than it was in 2017.
With that in mind, if you do decide to check out Battlefront 2 in 2022, you might be wondering whether the game supports crossplay. The question of Battlefront 2 crossplay is one that many players are looking to answer. After all, the game is available across multiple platforms, and not everybody has the same console, so if you’ve got friends with whom you want to experience this classic Star Wars nostalgia trip, then crossplay is critical. Here’s our look at whether Battlefront 2 crossplay is a thing.
Can you play Star Wars Battlefront 2 crossplay?
Unfortunately, at time of writing, no Star Wars Battlefront 2 crossplay feature has been added to the game by the developers. This means that if you’re playing on PS4, for instance, you’re going to have to stick with PS4 players (or those playing on PS5 via backwards compatibility), and the same goes for Xbox and PC gamers as well. Right now, there’s just no way to experience the game alongside your buddies if they’re playing on different platforms, which is a real shame.
Will EA add Battlefront 2 crossplay at some point?
It’s not looking likely. While more recent EA titles like Apex Legends do support crossplay, meaning you can play them with friends no matter what platform you’re on, older games by the publisher don’t have any kind of crossplay support. It’s unlikely that EA will add Battlefront 2 crossplay via a patch now, too, because it would likely take more resources and time than the publisher is willing to put into Battlefront 2, even though its player count in 2022 is still respectable (if not as high as it was at its peak).
In fact, it might not entirely be EA’s decision that Battlefront 2 isn’t crossplay. Leaked documents from last year suggest that Sony really has a bee in its bonnet regarding cross-platform play, with the publisher blocking crossplay on games like Minecraft and Rocket League even though other publishers wholeheartedly supported it. Elsewhere, Sony supposedly imposed restrictive fees on publishers who wanted to implement crossplay between PS4 and other platforms, so that might be part of the reason that EA was hesitant to include it in Battlefront 2.
What about last-gen and current-gen platforms?
That’s a slightly different story. If you’re playing on PS4 and your friend is playing on PS5, for instance, that shouldn’t be a problem. This is because the PS5 version of Battlefront 2 is actually just the PS4 version; you’re playing via backwards compatibility, so to the game’s servers, you’re effectively playing on the same platform.
The same is true of the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions; if you’re playing Battlefront 2 on Xbox One and your friend is playing on the newer console, you should still be able to team up and play together, because the servers won’t recognise that you’re playing on two different platforms.
Is Battlefront 2 cross-storefront compatible?
Again, we can happily answer this question with a resounding “yes”. If you’re playing Battlefront 2 on Origin, for example, and your friend is playing the game on Steam or on the Epic Games Store, you should be able to play together. This means that you can play the game between PC clients, but you can’t play it with a console player if you’re a PC gamer; you’re restricted to different storefronts. With that said, it’s good that it doesn’t matter exactly where you purchased Battlefront 2 if you want to play it with your friends on PC, right?
Are there any Star Wars crossplay games?
Happily, yes! 2020’s Star Wars: Squadrons, which casts you and your friends as fighter pilots battling either for the New Republic or the Empire, does support crossplay. This means that no matter where your friends are playing the game – whether it be on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, or PlayStation 4 – they’ll be able to enjoy the dogfighting delights of Star Wars: Squadrons alongside you.
You might need to jump through a couple of hoops to enable this feature, though. While crossplay is on by default – meaning you’ll likely meet other players from different platforms if you’re in the multiplayer mode – you’ll need to add your buddies as EA friends if you want to play with them on different platforms. Happily, this is a fairly straightforward process; you can just give them your EA account name, which you can find in the options menu under “Account”, and they can add you to their list that way.
Turning off crossplay is also pretty simple, should you want to only battle against people on the same platform as you. Head to the same Account tab where you found your name earlier. There, you should find an option marked “crossplay”. Just turn that option off, and hey presto – you’re no longer playing with people who aren’t on the same platform as you!