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Overwatch is getting cross-play between Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC "soon"

But no cross-progression at launch.

It's been a long time coming but Overwatch is finally getting cross-play support, enabling players to compete with and against one another regardless of platform.

Game director Aaron Keller announced the feature during Blizzard's latest developer update, working through some of the special matchmaking rules that'll be introduced once cross-play arrives for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC.

Essentially, while parties of console-only players will continue to be placed with other consoles players during matchmaking, and those on PC will continue to be placed with other PC players, mixed teams will be placed in the PC matchmaking pool. The one exception to this is Competitive Play mode, which will not permit mixed groups at all.

Cover image for YouTube videoDeveloper Update | Cross-Play | Overwatch
Overwatch Developer Update - Cross-Play.

Cross-play will be enabled by default on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch, but console players can opt-out of the feature if they prefer. Cross-play cannot be disabled on PC, however.

As part of his announcement, Keller noted that cross-progression will not be available when the cross-play update launches. "We understand that this feature is important to some of you," he added, "and it's something that the Overwatch team is excited to work on in the future".

Blizzard says cross-play will be arriving in beta form "soon", and that console players wishing to make use of the feature will first need to create a Battle.net account, as detailed in the developer's handy FAQ. As an added incentive, all players that log into Overwatch before the end of the year will receive a Golden Lootbox.