Minecraft Dungeons is one of the best games to play with friends in online and local co-op, which is one of the many reasons it makes an appearance on our list of Best Games for Kids on Xbox, but since its launch Minecraft Dungeons has been criticized for its lack of cross-play support. The inability to play with friends on other platforms went against the platform agnostic nature of Minecraft, especially since Minecraft Dungeons launched on Xbox, Windows, Switch, and PS4. Now, after months of teasers and waiting, Minecraft Dungeons officially has cross-play support on all platforms.
However, cross-play can sometimes be a little bit of a mess, as each individual platform has its own way of doing things, and integrate Minecraft Dungeons' cross-play support in different ways. In this Minecraft Dungeons cross-play guide, we'll go over everything you need to know about enabling and using cross-play to play with your friends, no matter where they are.
Minecraft Dungeons is the next saga in Minecraft's story, and Mojang Studios have knocked another one out of the park. Awesome co-op combat paired with powerful loot, all at a crazy affordable price? There's not much more you could ask for in an epic dungeon crawling ARPG.
Typically, most online games limit play to other players on the same platform as you. This means people playing Minecraft Dungeons on an Xbox One couldn't play with their friends on a Nintendo Switch, for example. With cross-play, those barriers are dropped, as a game can use a central account to connect all platforms, and let people play with their friends, no matter the platform. For Minecraft, this is the Microsoft Account.
Minecraft Dungeons just nabbed cross-play support in a free update for all platforms, with version number 1.6.0.0 (later versions will also work). As long as you have this update or later installed on your device, and are signed into a Microsoft Account, you'll be able to play anywhere that Minecraft Dungeons is available.
Most games that support cross-play use a common account across platforms to enable it since platforms like Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch don't natively talk to each other. For Minecraft and Minecraft Dungeons, you'll need a Microsoft Account. It's super easy to set-up, gives you a ton of security and privacy controls, and provides native integration into Xbox and Windows 10 for even easier play.
If you're playing through an Xbox console (including the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S or Windows 10, you don't need to do anything else here. People playing on PS4 or Nintendo Switch will need to go through a couple extra steps.
For extra info on what kind of security and privacy settings a Microsoft Account gives you, especially for parents, check out our comprehensive parents guide to Xbox and accounts, and consider the Xbox Family Settings app for extra control from your mobile device.
Players will have a handful of settings available to them to customize their online experience. If you head to the "Configure Online Play" section in Game settings, you can enable or disable online play, or sign out of your Microsoft Account. On PS4, you can also disable cross-platform play here. Other platforms will always have cross-platform play enabled, but Microsoft Accounts give you a ton of ways to customize your online and privacy settings.
Once you've connected your Microsoft Account with Minecraft Dungeons, you're ready to begin playing with friends from other platforms! Since this is all built on a Microsoft Account, playing with friends means knowing their gamertags, or their username with Microsoft and Xbox. You should've chosen a gamertag when you created your Microsoft Account for gaming (you can change it if you want). You can find your friends using their gamertags, and other players can find you by using yours.
If you're starting a new game, you'll see this Friends menu, which lets you toggle between an online and offline game lobby (offline means online co-op will not be enabled or possible) or toggle a private game (making so that players can't randomly join). Add friends by searching for their gamertags, or join friends who are already in a lobby.
Once you've created a game lobby, you can invite friends who are online to join you. Keep in mind, this doesn't always work, depending on where that friend is playing. Inviting works great to and from Xbox and Windows platforms, but Switch and PS4 can only send invites, not receive them. This means it can be a little trickier to set games up on Switch and PS4.
You can always see the Friends menu in the upper right-hand corner of your screen, and it's accessible with a press of a button from the main menu or the camp. Using this menu, you can see your current game session (if you're in your own lobby), and see which players are currently in the lobby. You can still toggle to a private game if you don't want players on your friends list to be able to randomly join on their own, but if you want to go offline you'll need to back out and start a new offline lobby.
Since cross-play in Minecraft Dungeons is new, there are bound to be some growing pains. If you encounter an error, a second attempt almost always does the trick, making it likely these errors are one-time issues getting connected. If you have repeated problems connecting with friends over platform lines, restart your game, and ensure your Microsoft Account online settings allow for cross-platform multiplayer.
Zachary Boddy (They \/ Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary."}), " -0-10/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Zachary BoddySocial Links NavigationStaff WriterZachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.
For questions about cross-platform play, the free update, or the upcoming cloud save feature, please refer to this FAQ. In the meantime, if anyone invites you to a party where you can only hang out with people who all play games on the same platform, you leave that party immediately and jump into the nearest game of Minecraft Dungeons. Remember: the only thing more important than defeating the Arch-Illager is friendship (and sick loot).
Minecraft Dungeons is a dungeon crawler spin-off of Minecraft. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in May 2020, and for Xbox Series X/S in February 2021. Minecraft Dungeons has single-player and multiplayer modes in which players battle mobs through a variety of settings. Minecraft Dungeons has cross platform enabled. Here is how to access Minecraft Dungeons crossplay.
Minecraft Dungeons has cross-platform support enabled. That means you can team up with friends playing on a PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox or Nintendo Switch. Mojang Studios also enabled a cloud save feature so players can pick up the game and your progress on another platform.
Players should make sure their game is updated to version 1.8.8.0 or later. You should also make sure your Nintendo Switch / PlayStation Network accounts are linked to your Microsoft account. Note that you also need a valid Nintendo Switch Online membership to play online on Nintendo Switch, or a PlayStation Plus membership for PlayStation consoles.
From the main menu and Hero select screen, you can switch between Online Game and Offline Game. After you select Online Game, you can add friends by selecting Add Friend and searching for their gamertags.
Yes! The feature was missing for some time but finally arrived on November 17, 2020, fulfilling a long-term promise from Mojang that they were working on uniting Dungeons players across multiple systems. Cross-platform multiplayer works with the party system in Dungeons, allowing up to four players to journey together no matter what system they are using.
When logged in and ready to go, anyone can send invites to their friends and check which friends are online on their platforms. However, Switch and PlayStation players may only be able to send invites, and not receive them. This may require some prep work and setup to get all your friends in the same game. Make sure everyone knows your gamertag on your platform of choice so they can find you more easily using the Friends menu.
Sony consoles have always gotten multiple versions and editions ever since the original PlayStation 1. As technology becomes cheaper and more advanced, refreshed models that are both smaller and less expensive to produce typically come out a couple of years into a console's life cycle, and we have now hit that point for the PS5. The PS5 slim, as it is being referred to, is a smaller version of the launch models, and will eventually become the standard unit available to consumers once the stock of existing PS5s runs out. However, is this version worth getting if you're an existing owner, or is it only for new purchasers? There's also the question about which of the two versions to buy. To answer all these questions, let's compare the PS5 slim to the OG PS5.
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