Stardew Valley is a game made by just one person, but it has seen more success than most games made by dozens, or even hundreds, of people. It’s even one of Digital Trends’ top 50 video games of all time. Since its release in 2016, it’s been updated regularly with new features and content to keep its avid fans coming back. As of the Stardew Valley 1.6 update additions, this includes an online multiplayer component that allows you and up to three friends to hang out on each other’s farms. Of course, many players are still wondering when Stardew Valley 1.6 is coming to consoles. And with the recent trend of games allowing players on different platforms to join together, you may wonder if Stardew Valley offers cross-platform functionality. Here’s everything we know about cross-platform support in Stardew Valley.
Is Stardew Valley cross-platform?
Stardew Valley does not offer cross-platform support, meaning you can’t play online multiplayer between any of the systems the game is on. So if you want to team up with some friends, make sure you all are playing on the same platform, such as the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, or PC. Also be aware that whoever starts a multiplayer game is saving that shared world locally, meaning no one else can reenter that world without the host present.
The sad fact of the matter is there doesn’t seem to be any indication that Stardew Valley will ever join the list of all cross-platform games. The game’s official Reddit still lists it as not being supported, and there was only one mention of it by the developer on Twitter back in 2018, when he responded to a question asking if crossplay would come to the game. He replied, “Unfortunately, there will not be crossplay. Apparently, the technical barriers are very high. It’s still something I really want to add and I promise to look into it more closely, but first priority is getting the update out there.” This was many years ago, and there has been no further information about cross-platform play since, so it seems very unlikely that we will see support for this functionality come to Stardew Valley.
It’s worth noting that playing with friends on different consoles isn’t the only cross-platform feature Stardew Valley players are missing out on. Cross-save is another major feature that the title unfortunately doesn’t support right now outside of the PC, Android, and iOS platforms. Being on nearly every platform, yet being unable to transfer saves between them is a real bummer that would be great to see addressed, but as with cross-platform play, we wouldn’t count on seeing this functionality come to the game, either.
Right now, the best we can hope for is that Haunted Chocolatier, the next game from ConcernedApe, will include these features when it comes out.
