Does Fallout 76 have cross-platform features like cross-play and cross-progression?

With the resurgence of player interest in Fallout 76, many are wondering whether the game has cross-platform features such as cross-play. At the moment, the answer is sadly no. The game is accessible across various consoles, including older and newer generations of PlayStation and Xbox, and PC via Game Pass and Steam, but none of them support cross-play or cross-progression.

In this article, we will address why there are currently no cross-platform features in Fallout 76, and whether the title could get these in the near future.

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Why doesn't Fallout 76 have cross-play?

Fallout 76 has no cross-platform features - yet (Image via Bethesda Softworks)

Technically, the only cross-platform playability Fallout 76 has right now is between different PC-specific launchers. You can team up with your buddies playing from Microsoft account (PC Game Pass) if you're playing Fallout 76 from Steam.

Outside of this, there is no cross-play between other platforms and storefronts, including cross-generation support. So, there's no way to connect Xbox and PlayStation players. Furthermore, even among players from similar platforms like PS4 and PS5, there's no teaming up and playing together in the same world.

In a conversation with Kinda Funny Gamescast, game director Todd Howard mentioned that Fallout 76 was simply not designed with cross-play in mind, saying:

"It (Fallout 76) wasn't designed that way from the beginning, so obviously we get into servers and database silos..."

Bethesda are, however, placing more emphasis on cross-save, another cross-platform feature absent from Fallout 76.

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Does Fallout 76 have cross-save?

Cross-save is closer than cross-play is, according to Todd (Image via Bethesda Softworks)

Fallout 76 does not have cross-save support at the moment. It doesn't allow account linking or manual save file transfers across different platforms.

Thankfully, there is light at the end of the tunnel. In the aforementioned interview, Todd Howard said that they are actively looking into cross-save actively, but it might take a while:

"It's something we are looking at, but... the way it was architected from the beginning, it's quite a technical leap. Not saying we aren't doing anything, we are looking at it, and seeing where that's gonna impact people."

This interview took place on April 29th 2024, so given how big of a 'technical leap' it seems, we will most likely not have proper cross-save in Fallout 76 before 2025.

Currently, Game Pass and Steam on PC are the only exceptions that allow progress to be carried over. However, Atoms (Fallout 76's in-game currency) and the premium Fallout 1st membership balance can't be transferred the same way, as they are exclusively tied to the digital platform where they were initially purchased.

Much like cross-play, cross-progresison is a highly sought-after feature in a live-service game. With the ongoing trend of multi-platform availability, many MMO-lites and MMORPGs have mounted the cross-save wagon.

In Final Fantasy 14, for example, linking a new platform to a preexisting Square Enix account can instantly transfer progress between platforms. Warframe's cross-save goes the extra mile, letting players take a one-time opportunity to merge the total progress of all their accounts on different platforms into one primary account.

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Check out our other Fallout 76 guides:

Secret Service armor location || Nuke Codes and launch site locations || Legendary weapon effects || Legendary armor effects