If you’ve been asking is Palworld cross platform Xbox and PC, you’re far from alone. I ran headfirst into this exact question last month, when three of my friends picked up the game on Xbox Series S, and I already owned it on Steam. We spent almost an hour troubleshooting why I couldn’t find their co-op lobby, digging through forum threads and official patch notes to figure out what we were doing wrong. Turns out, there are a lot of half-true answers floating around about Palworld crossplay, so I put together this full guide to break down exactly what works, what doesn’t, and how to get your cross-device group playing together without the headache we went through.
Is Palworld Cross Platform Xbox and PC? The Short, No-Fuss Answer
The short answer is yes, but with one very important caveat that trips up almost every new group. Xbox Palworld players can only crossplay with PC players who own the Microsoft Store or PC Game Pass version of the game. If you own the Steam or Epic Games Store edition of Palworld on PC, you won’t be able to join lobbies with Xbox players right now, no matter what settings you tweak.
Developer Pocketpair has confirmed full crossplay across all PC storefronts and Xbox is in active development, but it hasn’t rolled out as of the latest game update. I learned this the hard way when I tried to join my friends’ lobby with my Steam copy; I restarted my router, checked my firewall, and even reinstalled the game before I found the official note about storefront limitations. If you only own the Steam version, you don’t have to buy the game twice to play with Xbox friends, though. If you have an active PC Game Pass subscription, you can download the Microsoft Store edition of Palworld at no extra cost, and that version will work with Xbox players seamlessly.
It’s worth noting that crossplay between Xbox and PC (Microsoft Store) works for both standard co-op lobbies and dedicated servers, as long as the dedicated server is hosted on the Microsoft Store version of the game. Steam dedicated servers won’t show up for Xbox players, either, so keep that in mind if you’re planning to set up a persistent world for your group.
How to Set Up Crossplay Between Xbox and PC for Palworld
Once you’ve confirmed all PC players are using the correct version of the game, setting up crossplay is pretty straightforward, as long as you follow these steps in order. I’ve tested this process with my own group four times now, and it works every time as long as no one skips a step:
- First, confirm all PC players are running the Microsoft Store/PC Game Pass edition of Palworld, not the Steam or Epic Games Store version. You can check which edition you have by opening your game library: the Steam edition will show up in your Steam library, while the compatible edition will show up in the Xbox app or Microsoft Store library on your PC.
- On your Xbox, make sure you’ve installed the latest Palworld update, and that your Xbox Live profile is set to allow multiplayer and cross-network play in your account privacy settings. You can find this under Settings > Account > Privacy & online safety > Xbox privacy > View details & customize > Communication & multiplayer. If this setting is blocked, you won’t see any crossplay lobbies at all.
- All players (both Xbox and PC) need to add each other as friends on Xbox Live, even if you’re playing on PC through the Microsoft Store. Steam friends lists won’t sync to the Palworld crossplay network, so you’ll need to share your Xbox gamertags with each other first. I recommend sending friend requests a few minutes before you plan to play, so everyone has time to accept them before you start setting up the lobby.
- Once all friends are added, the host can start a new co-op world or load an existing one, set the lobby to friends-only, and invited players will get a notification on their device to join the session. If you don’t get a notification, you can also manually search for the host’s gamertag in the Palworld multiplayer menu to find the lobby.
If you still can’t find the lobby after following these steps, the most common fix is to check your NAT type. If your Xbox or PC has a strict or moderate NAT type, you might not be able to connect to crossplay lobbies. You can change your NAT type by enabling UPnP on your router, or setting your device to a static IP and port forwarding for Palworld. I had to do this for my Xbox last year, and it fixed almost all of my crossplay connection issues across every game I own.
Key Limitations of Xbox and PC Crossplay for Palworld You Should Know
Even once you get crossplay up and running, there are a few limitations you should be aware of before you start playing, so you don’t run into unexpected issues mid-session. Most of these are temporary, while Pocketpair finishes rolling out full crossplay support, but they’re important to plan for right now:
First, as we already covered, There is no crossplay support between Steam Palworld and Xbox at this time. There’s no official release date for this feature yet, but Pocketpair has shared that it’s a top priority for their development team, so it should roll out in a future update. Until then, you’ll need to stick to the Microsoft Store/PC Game Pass edition on PC to play with Xbox friends.
Second, mod support is limited for crossplay lobbies. Xbox doesn’t support most user-created mods for Palworld, so if the PC host is running any mods, Xbox players will get a version mismatch error when they try to join. If you want to play with mods, you’ll have to stick to a PC-only lobby, or only use official, Xbox-approved mods (of which there are very few right now). My group tried to run a quality-of-life mod pack once, and all three of our Xbox players couldn’t get in, so we ended up switching back to the vanilla version for our crossplay sessions.
Third, Palworld cross-save works between Xbox and Microsoft Store PC editions, but not between Xbox and Steam/Epic PC editions. That means if you start playing on Xbox, you can pick up right where you left off on the Microsoft Store PC version, as long as you’re signed into the same Xbox Live account. But if you switch to the Steam version later, you’ll have to start a brand new save file, since there’s no cross-save support between storefronts yet.
Finally, standard co-op lobbies are still capped at 8 players total, even with crossplay. If you want a larger server, you’ll need to set up a dedicated server on the Microsoft Store version of the game, which supports up to 32 players across Xbox and PC.
Troubleshooting Common Crossplay Issues Between Xbox and PC
Even if you follow all the setup steps perfectly, you might run into a few common issues when trying to play crossplay. I’ve dealt with all of these personally, so these fixes are tested and work for most groups:
If you can’t see your friend’s lobby at all, first double check that all PC players are on the Microsoft Store/PC Game Pass version, and that everyone has cross-network play enabled in their Xbox Live settings. If that’s all set, check the official Palworld server status page to make sure the multiplayer servers aren’t down for maintenance. Servers do go down occasionally for updates, so if everyone is having trouble connecting, that’s usually the cause.
If you get a version mismatch error when trying to join, make sure every player has installed the latest Palworld update. Xbox usually installs updates automatically, but you can manually check for updates by highlighting Palworld on your dashboard, pressing the menu button, and selecting “Manage game and add-ons”. On PC, you can check for updates in the Microsoft Store or Xbox app library. If any PC players have mods installed, ask them to disable all mods and restart the game, since that’s almost always the cause of version mismatch errors in crossplay lobbies.
If your cross-save isn’t syncing between Xbox and PC, Always sign into Palworld on both Xbox and PC with the same Xbox Live account to enable cross-save syncing. If you’re already signed into the same account, wait 5 to 10 minutes after closing the game on one device before opening it on the other, since cloud sync can have a short delay. Don’t start a new save file if your old one doesn’t show up right away; that can overwrite your cloud save and make you lose all your progress.
If you’re experiencing frequent lag or disconnections, try switching who is hosting the lobby. Xbox consoles work great as hosts for small groups of 2 to 4 players, but larger groups usually have a smoother experience if a PC player hosts the lobby, since PCs generally have better processing power and more stable internet connections for hosting. My group used to have one of our Xbox players host, and we’d have at least one person disconnect every 30 minutes. Once we switched to having me host on my PC, we played for 6 hours straight with no disconnections at all.
So if you’ve been wondering is Palworld cross platform Xbox and PC, the answer is a qualified yes, as long as you stick to the Microsoft Store/PC Game Pass version on PC. The current limitations can be a little annoying, but the setup process is simple once you know what to look for, and you’ll be catching Pals and building bases with your cross-device friends in no time. If you run into any issues we didn’t cover here, drop a comment below and I’ll help you troubleshoot.