Bungie continues to deliver on its promise to robustly supportDestiny 2, even now nearly four years after the game launched. Not only has the online multiplayer shooter received routine content updates and major expansions, but Bungie continues to explore key technical features as well. Case in point, the announced addition of cross-platform play in 2021. In fact, Bungie is ready to start moving towardDestiny 2’s cross-platform launch, with the first step being a newly confirmed beta.
BeforeDestiny 2players start to worry about registrations or dropped keys, Bungie has confirmed that the upcomingcrossplay betawill be open to everyone. That doesn’t mean it won’t have serious limitations, however. For one, the beta will run between just May 25 and May 27. It’s very short, implying that Bungie is using this opportunity to gather data and test its system.Destiny 2players can look at it like it’s a teaser for what’s to come.
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Further, accessing crossplay is restricted to just a single playlist, temporarily altered for the beta. The Vanguard Strike playlist will matchDestiny 2players with others from the entire pool of platforms when players queue up. Supported platforms includePlayStation, Xbox, Steam, and Stadia, so everyone should be covered. There’s no opt-in or any other requirements to be paired up with crossplay allies. It’ll happen naturally just by selecting the correct playlist.
One key limitation is certain to be disappointing news toDestiny 2players, unfortunately. Bungie is not going to be enabling the ability to invite friends from other platforms into a fireteam for theVanguard Strike playlist. In other words, crossplay will only work through matchmaking with random players. Enabling crossplay invitations is a layer of functionality that Bungie isn’t prepared to make available just yet. Considering invitations are whatDestiny 2players are most excited about, this is an understandably frustrating limitation. Bungie’s got to start somewhere, though.
As a reward to encourageDestiny 2playersto participate in the beta, even without support for fireteam invitations, Bungie will be giving out a unique “Stars Crossed” emblem. In order to earn the emblem,Destiny 2players will have to play through at least three strikes via the Vanguard Strikes crossplay playlist.
While the crossplay beta forDestiny 2may be seriously limited for the time being, it won’t be long before the feature is widely available and robustly supported for everyone. Crossplay is tentatively planned to launch alongside thenext season inDestiny 2, which is expected to begin mid-August.
Destiny 2is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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