Valheim crossplay: How it works

Valheim crossplay - a Viking character is standing in front of an array of portals with a tree and bench nearby

(Image credit: Iron Gate)

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Valheim Stagbreaker war hammer — (Image credit: Iron Gate Studios)

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Valheim crossplay isn't something you might have thought about up until now. But Iron Gate's Viking survival game has now arrived on the Microsoft Store and Xbox consoles, two years after it first launched in early access on Steam. With that in mind, you may decide to hop into Valheim's co-op to show your non-Steam friends around the Viking afterlife.

Following Valheim's release in 2021, player numbers quickly exploded, with its popularity taking the then five-person development team completely by surprise. The big Mistlands update, which included a whole new biome, arrived late last year and another, the Ashlands, is expected further down the line.

If you're ready to show your would-be Viking friends the ropes, here's how to enable Valheim crossplay.

Valheim crossplay: How it works

Once you've selected or created a suitable Viking character, you will be given the option of starting a new world, loading up an existing one, or joining someone else's world. It's on this screen that you'll see the crossplay option, which you can toggle on and off as you choose.

If you're playing solo, then the crossplay setting won't matter, but if you decide to start the world as a server so friends can join—this is another option on the world select screen—you'll need to set a password and decide whether or not to enable crossplay. It's worth noting that only players that know the password will be able to join your server, so there's no harm in keeping the crossplay option enabled, even if you don't need it. If your friends aren't playing via Steam though, just be sure everyone is running the same game version.

If you're running a dedicated server, you can use the parameter "-crossplay" to allow players on other platforms to join.

Valheim crossplay — Find the crossplay option on the world "Select World" screen. (Image credit: Iron Gate)

Sarah started as a freelance writer in 2018, writing for PCGamesN, TechRadar, GamingBible, Red Bull Gaming and more. In 2021, she was offered a full-time position on the PC Gamer team where she takes every possible opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft and Elden Ring. When not writing guides, most of her spare time is spent in Azeroth—though she's quite partial to JRPGs too. One of her fondest hopes is to one day play through the ending of Final Fantasy X without breaking down into a sobbing heap. She probably has more wolves in Valheim than you.