If you’ve ever queued for a Valorant match with a friend who plays on a different device, you’ve probably asked: is there crossplay on Valorant? For years, Riot Games has teased cross-platform functionality for the hit 5v5 tactical shooter, but official rollouts have been slow and targeted to specific use cases. As someone who’s played Valorant across both PC and beta console builds for the past three years, I’ve tested every available cross-play feature to break down exactly what works, what doesn’t, and what you can expect in the near future. Whether you’re a long-time PC main or a new console player waiting to jump in, this guide covers all the details you need to queue with friends no matter what device they use.
Is There Crossplay on Valorant Right Now? Official Current Support
As of the latest game update, Valorant crossplay support varies depending on the platforms you’re using and the game mode you want to play. Crossplay between PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S is fully enabled by default for all game modes, including competitive, unrated, spike rush, and custom games. You don’t have to adjust any settings to play with friends on opposite console ecosystems, and matchmaking will pool players from both console platforms to cut down on queue times. Crossplay between PC and console is only available for casual, non-competitive modes, and you have to opt in through your settings menu to access it. Crossplay between PC and the ongoing Valorant mobile beta is also limited to custom private games only, with no public matchmaking support available yet. Riot disabled PC-console crossplay for competitive modes entirely to avoid unfair matches, as mouse and keyboard users have a measurable aim and reaction time advantage over controller players, even with the game’s built-in controller aim assist.
Cross-Progression Rules for Valorant Across Platforms
Crossplay isn’t the only cross-platform feature players care about, and Riot has built out full cross-progression support for all linked Valorant accounts. All your in-game cosmetics, rank progress, battle pass tiers, and unlocked agents carry over across all platforms you link to the same Riot ID. The only exception is your competitive rank: PC competitive rank and console competitive rank are tracked separately, even on the same account, to keep ranked lobbies fair for each input type. I bought the Xenohunter knife on PC last year, and it showed up automatically when I logged into my PS5 beta account without any extra steps, which was a nice surprise. Any purchases you make on one platform will be available on all others, so you don’t have to buy the same battle pass or skin bundle twice if you play on multiple devices. You can link your console account to your existing Riot ID through the official Riot account management page, and the process only takes a couple of minutes.
Pros and Cons of Enabling Valorant Crossplay
Before you toggle crossplay on in your settings, it’s worth weighing the upsides and downsides for your play style. Most casual players will get more out of enabling it, but competitive grinders may want to leave it off entirely. Here’s a quick breakdown of the biggest advantages and drawbacks:
- Pro: Queue with friends no matter what console or device they own, no need to buy multiple copies of the game to play together
- Con: PC players using mouse and keyboard have a natural aim advantage over controller players, even with Riot’s balanced controller aim assist settings
- Pro: Shorter queue times for less popular modes like Replication or Escalation, especially during off-peak hours in smaller regions
- Con: Console players who opt into PC crossplay can’t join competitive ranked queues, so you’ll be limited to casual modes only when the setting is enabled
I usually leave crossplay enabled when I’m playing spike rush with my little brother who has an Xbox, but I turn it off completely when I’m grinding competitive on my PS5 to avoid being matched against PC players with faster reaction times. It’s easy to toggle the setting on and off between matches, so you don’t have to commit to one choice permanently.
Upcoming Crossplay Plans for Valorant
Riot regularly shares updates about crossplay features through their official dev blogs and community streams, so we have a clear picture of what’s coming next for cross-platform play. Riot has confirmed that full PC-console competitive crossplay is not on the roadmap for the foreseeable future, due to ongoing concerns about input fairness between mouse and keyboard and controller users. That doesn’t mean no new crossplay features are coming, though. Riot is currently testing input-based matchmaking for crossplay lobbies, which would let you set custom games to only match controller vs controller or mouse vs mouse even across different devices, making casual crossplay fairer for all players. Valorant mobile is expected to get full crossplay support with casual PC and console modes when it launches globally, so you’ll be able to queue with friends on your phone if you’re away from your main setup. Riot is also rolling out a cross-platform voice chat feature in the next few months, which will fix the current issue where cross-platform parties can’t use in-game voice chat together without third-party apps.
At the end of the day, the answer to is there crossplay on Valorant depends on what platforms you’re playing on and what modes you want to access. Casual players have more options than ever to queue with friends across different devices, while competitive players can stick to their platform of choice to ensure fair matches. If you haven’t tried crossplay yet, test it out in a few unrated matches first to see if it fits your play style before you commit to leaving it on full time. You might be surprised how much fun you have playing with friends you previously couldn’t queue with.
