It was announced a few months ago that this Autumn Apex Legends would be getting cross-platform support, enabling play between PlayStation, Xbox, and PC users.
The autumn season will be Season 7, starting around November 10th. That would tie-in with the expected Autumn release date of crossplay and also be close to the release of the new consoles, Xbox Series X and PS5.
Counting down the days till Cross-platform comes to Apex, I can't wait
— SoaR ππππΊπππππ (@illSpooky) August 28, 2020
Recent code leaked by prolific code-hunter @shrugtal on Twitter suggests that the UI and other features of crossplay may already be ready to go. Respawn has had a busy year this summer, especially with the current WFH situation, so it will be amazing if everything launches without a hitch.
Small taste of the code I mentioned for crossplay support, everything seems to be moving over the EA Digital Platform (EADP) for social features. Should cover all of this in tomorrow's video if I manage to get it out.
No pretty pictures though, just a lot of code π pic.twitter.com/HUMn0LCHmB
— Shrugtal (@shrugtal) August 31, 2020
It looks like cross-platform will all go through existing EA social platforms. Friends will be able to communicate across platforms via the EA network of games (also called the EADP), presumably Origin on PC and new integration for consoles.
Cross-platform be an interesting addition to Apex Legends. It will help keep lobbies busy and also promote competitive play between platforms, which will be interesting considering the ongoing debate between Mouse and Keyboard and Controller.
One question in the community’s mind is whether or not there will be cross-progression. If you want to transfer an Xbox Apex account to a PC, will you be able to? Can cosmetics be shared between your PlayStation and Xbox account, if you did want to switch consoles?
One thing is certain: you will be able to transfer your account progress through to the next generation consoles. Anything you have earned while on a PS4 or Xbox One will be there on your account when you transfer over.
There is some speculation that you will be able to transfer your console cosmetics and level over to PC. Take this tweet from the same dataminer, Shrugtal.
These endpoints that seem to be used to transfer value / entitlements (what an account "owns") make me wonder if they've been testing the possibility of cross-progression in some form.
Pure speculation though. pic.twitter.com/WDolbnpdD9
— Shrugtal (@shrugtal) August 31, 2020
It seems like Respawn may have been testing the capability of transferring items from different accounts. Apex wouldn’t be the first game that this is a feature, as Destiny 2 already has this enabled. All items are stored somewhere – surely they can transfer it across?
Many people in the community are keen to see cross-progression introduced, although it does go against Respawn’s current microtransaction model. There are probably some in the office who would rather see people spend more money on different platforms rather than transfer their progress…
