News
June 16, 2022
Epic Online Services release free PC crossplay tools
Millions of new players, one community
To reach all audiences, developers need to port their titles across multiple stores and platforms by implementing different sets of services and account systems for each store. Because these services aren’t interoperable it means players cannot play with friends who have purchased from different stores, despite owning the exact same game.Today, we are launching a new crossplay tool for game developers—starting with PC. This service is the first in a series of plug-and-play crossplay services that give developers everything they need to connect their game and community across platforms and stores.
Enabling a multi-store world
Epic Online Services crossplay now works seamlessly on Steam and Epic Games Store, enabling Steam players to search from over half a billion friends, connect and play. Development to natively support more PC stores is underway, as well as macOS and Linux support for desktop, with support for crossplay on console and mobile platforms coming later.To make it easy for players to connect with friends across PC stores, Epic Online Services includes an overlay that merges Steam and Epic Games friends into a single list, as well as an interface to search for friends, send and receive friend requests, and join multiplayer game sessions across stores.
Grow your game using any engine of your choice
Building crossplay into Fortnite, Rocket League, and most recently Fall Guys has taught us that when players can join up with their friends they have more fun and enjoy playing more often.Crossplay enables bigger games, bigger audiences, and growth for the global gaming industry. Epic Online Services deliver a single set of services for game development on any engine, any store and any platform and are proven to scale in some of the largest games.
"Crossplay gives all friends the opportunity to come together and create fond memories across interactive experiences. We are in the fortunate position to drive change in the industry with crossplay tools for all developers and we believe that connecting friends and communities will take the gaming industry to its next major growth spurt and its next billion players."- Simon Allaeys, Senior Director of Online Services at Epic Games
What does Crossplay for PC include?
Anyone that’s ever developed a crossplay game knows that there are a lot of elements that go into making it feel seamless. Here’s how the new features help facilitate that process.- All friends, one place. Steam and Epic Games Store friends merge into one overlay allowing players to see all friends in a single list.
- Integrated game invites. In-game, players can search and send invites to friends across Steam and the Epic Games Store, making connecting and playing together easy.
- Account linking. Onboarding without emails or password prompts. With just a few clicks, Steam players can jump into a game while an Epic Games account is created under the hood for their Steam account.
- Update-free improvements. When games are installed, the crossplay features are distributed via a self-updating in-game overlay. Players can enjoy new features and improvements without needing to update anything themselves.
- Plug-and-play SDK. Each Epic Online Services toolset is self-contained, so developers can mix and match the services they want to implement, incorporate the things they want, and leave the rest. Crossplay tools are no different.
Want to try Crossplay for PC?
Get started with Crossplay for PC by downloading the Epic Online Services SDK 1.15 and configuring it in the developer portal at dev.epicgames.com.Remember, while the crossplay tools might be debuting today as PC-only features, their console counterparts are coming soon as well. So stay tuned!