No Man's Sky has full crossplay, and it has had it since Hello Games shipped the Crossplay update in June 2020.
PC, Mac, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch 2, Steam Deck, and VR players all share one universe and one matchmaking pool. The single exception is the original 2022 Nintendo Switch release, which shipped single-player only.
We get this question a lot, mostly because "crossplay" and "cross-save" keep getting mixed together. This page separates them and shows you how to group up with a friend on another platform.
No Man's Sky crossplay by platform
The 2020 update rebuilt the game's networking so players on different systems could explore, build, and trade in the same session. Every platform below matches together by default.
| Platforms | Crossplay | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| PC (Steam/GOG/Microsoft Store), Mac, PS4, PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, Steam Deck, PSVR/PSVR2, PCVR | Yes | One shared universe and matchmaking pool. Players from other systems appear with a controller icon in-game. |
| Original Nintendo Switch (2022 release) | No | Shipped single-player only due to hardware limits. It sits outside the crossplay pool. |
Two versions of the game run on Nintendo hardware, and they are not the same build. The 2025 Switch 2 upgrade is a separate release with full multiplayer, so it plays with everyone else while the older Switch version does not.
Where Mac and the newer platforms fit
Mac joined the crossplay pool when Hello Games added a Metal and Apple Silicon rendering pipeline, so Mac players match with PC and console without any extra step. If you are on a modern Mac, you play with everyone.
Nintendo Switch 2 landed as a free upgrade in June 2025 with full multiplayer and crossplay. Steam Deck, PSVR, PSVR2, and PCVR all sit in the same pool too, so a VR explorer and a Steam Deck player can meet in the same system.
The original 2022 Switch is the one to watch out for. Palworld is another survival sandbox with full crossplay, and our guide on Palworld's crossplay covers it. It runs single-player only, so it cannot join a crossplay session at all.
Cross-save and crossplay are two different things
This is the part people trip on, so here is the plain split. Crossplay is playing together in the same session across systems. Cross-save is your single save file following you from one system to another.
No Man's Sky has both. Cross-save launched in beta on November 7, 2024, and it covers effectively every version of the game.
That list runs to PC (Steam, GOG, Microsoft Store, and Game Pass), PS4, PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, PSVR1, PSVR2, and PCVR. You link your accounts at cloud.nomanssky.com/cross-save, then upload or download the same save from any connected system through the in-game save screen. Fallout 76 is far stricter about all this, as our guide on Fallout 76 crossplay explains.
So you can build a base on PC in the evening and pick it up on PlayStation the next day. The save moves with you, not just the ability to play together. Subnautica 2 handles save transfers more manually, as our guide on Subnautica 2's crossplay explains.
How to play with friends across platforms
Crossplay is on by default through the in-game Network settings, so most of the work is just finding each other. Each player has a unique Friend Code you can share to add one another as No Man's Sky Friends, which makes rejoining quick later. If you play survival on Xbox, our roundup of the best Xbox survival games has more worlds to explore.
From there you can form a cross-platform group directly in-game or from the frontend menu. You can also team up the old-fashioned way, by physically meeting another player in the universe and choosing the group or invite option.
On turning it off, there is no confirmed single switch that disables crossplay entirely. The Network settings expose crossplay-related options, including voice chat transcription and translation, but a dedicated "crossplay off" toggle is not officially documented, so we will not claim one exists.
Does No Man's Sky have voice chat?
Yes. In-game voice chat is supported, and the 2020 update re-enabled it on PS4 alongside the crossplay rollout.
You will find optional extras in the Network options, including automatic transcription and automatic translation of voice chat. Those help when your group spans different platforms and languages.
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