Overwatch's Highly Anticipated Cross-Play Feature Is Now Available In Beta

Earlier today, the Overwatch Twitter account announced that cross-play has finally arrived around the globe. All players must create a Battle.net account and link their console accounts to start cross-playing to gain access to this. In celebrating this feature, anyone who logs into Overwatch before the end of 2021 will receive a promotional Golden Loot Box to pick up at least a legendary skin.

Cross-Play has arrived.

You can now group up with friends across the globe on PC, @xbox, @playstation and @nintendo.

Link your console to your https://t.co/Vqndyf7pSK account and play with your friends! pic.twitter.com/FpOyCXT9sY

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) June 22, 2021

Another nice thing of note is that cross-play will not be enabled for competitive game modes, which will be “split into two pools depending on the system that they are playing on: 1) Console players, and 2) PC players.” This is done for balance purposes as having a keyboard in a controller-only match could be quite unfair. Furthermore, players on consoles can opt-out of cross-play through the Overwatch in-game menu if they so choose.
No matter what, playing with friends in Overwatch regardless of the system is a very nice feature to have. Thankfully, the team behind Overwatch has handled the implementation well, it seems, with the restriction on competitive play and the ability to opt-out if you are on console. Hopefully, more games will follow in Overwatch’s footsteps as time goes on, but in the meantime, let us know what you think about Overwatch cross-play in the comments below.