Fallout 76 crossplay is still in the works, Bethesda says

When it first launched in 2018, one of the biggest issues many took with Fallout 76 was how empty the world was without NPCs. It was almost two years before the Wastelanders update finally brought life back to Appalachia in 2020. That’s not the only major issue that’s consistently plagued Fallout 76 fans since launch, though. Wasteland denizens are still dying for cross-play to be added to the game.

It’s been a request from Fallout 76 players since the game’s launch, but we are seemingly no closer to it actually happening. Players just want to travel the Wasteland together, regardless of their video game platform, which seems reasonable enough. So during a video interview with Fallout 76 creative director Jon Rush and production director Bill LaCoste, we asked for an update.

“We are looking into it, and we have plans to try to scope out what that work is going to entail for us,” Rush shared with Polygon, before taking the wind out of our sails. “It’s just not in the immediate plans for us. We know players want it.”

Unfortunately, when Bethesda created Fallout 76, it was without the framework to make cross-play a reality. Adding it in after the fact, it turns out, is a gargantuan task for a number of reasons.

“It’s just huge technical hurdles that are things that you tackle before release, during your actual development of the product,” LaCoste explained. “So going back and retrofitting it to do that, when you have different places that players are pointing into, and now you’re having to worry about entitlements and account purchases and currency.”

And while players shouldn’t expect it anytime soon, Bethesda hears your complaints and isn’t ignoring them. “What we can promise players is that we will continue to investigate, we will continue to try to establish plans to make that a thing in the future, just not in the short term,” LaCoste summed up.

While it’s bittersweet news, at best, at least we know Fallout 76 cross-play is being worked on, however slowly it may be happening. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to roam around Appalachia on my PC account with my friends playing on PlayStation 5. Until then, though, we remain a fractured Wasteland.