'Apex Legends' Crossplay: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, iPhone, Android, PC, Mac?
Where can gamers actually play it? And where should they play it?
There’s a new free-to-play battle royale game from Respawn Entertainment, the developers behind Titanfall, and it’s already out. But where can gamers play it and how will crossplay between various consoles and platforms work?
EA released Apex Legends on Monday. It’s available through Origin for PC, and on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. As of right now, there are no plans for release on the Nintendo Switch, any mobile devices, or even Mac, but Respawn hasn’t made any comment to confirm or deny it could happen in the future.
Rather than developing a direct sequel to 2016’s Titanfall 2, Respawn instead opted to create a battle royale game set within the same universe. It’s a tight, character-focused first-person shooter like Overwatch, but it has a more mature style more akin to Call of Duty: Blackout.
Eurogamer reported on Monday shortly after the game’s release that crossplay was planned for Apex Legends, but it won’t be available at launch. Respawn specifically commented that there were “plans to allow players to play with their friends on other platforms.”
'Apex Legends' has a varied assortment of "Legends" — essentially character classes — to choose from.
Because of the way systems were set up initially, however, cross-purchases and cross-progress will never happen. So while gamers can play matches with or against their friends on different platforms (eventually), they won’t be able to log into their Apex Legends profile on another console and have their progress transfer over.
This is unfortunate in that it presents one glaring flaw in Apex Legends in an area where Fortnite has a slight edge. Outside of Sony’s issues with cross-platform profile usage, most Fortnite players can enjoy using their same profile on mobile devices, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One. Meanwhile, players that originate on the PS4 can only play on that console and on mobile devices. Apex Legends can’t do any of that.
The real question, then, is which platform offers the best Apex Legends experience?
Longtime Titanfall fans no doubt remember that the franchise began as an Xbox exclusive, so something does feel right about playing Apex Legends on Xbox One. But precisely because of the game’s eventual crossplay limitations, there’s really nothing to lose going with PlayStation 4 either. And for anyone who has a powerful enough gaming PC good, they’re probably not going to pick console either way.
On the PlayStation 4 at least, Apex Legends is only 17.51 GB — much smaller than most games — so there’s really no reason to not at least try it out.
Apex Legends is available now for PC on Origin, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.*
Check out an in-depth gameplay video to see more about the various Legends and maps in Apex Legends.
