Where once it was seen as a much-welcomed bonus, crossplay support has now become standard for pretty much every type of online multiplayer game. This bodes well for fans of heavily stylized racing games, as it means that they'll be able to play Need For Speed Unbound online with their friends regardless of which platforms everybody is playing on.
Much like its predecessor, Need For Speed Unbound supports crossplay across every platform that it's available on, meaning that PS5, Xbox Series, and PC players will all be able to race against one another. Crossplay doesn't just make it easier to play with friends either. It also decreases the amount of time that players will have to wait to find a lobby, which can only be seen as a good thing.
How Does Cross-Play Work in Need For Speed Unbound?
Players will be given the option to enable or disable cross-play when they first boot up the game. Unlike in other EA games like FIFA 23 where crossplay can potentially introduce lag, it seems to work perfectly well in Need For Speed Unbound and so there's very little reason to disable it. If for whatever reason they do though, players will be able to re-enable crossplay by visiting the in-game settings menu at any time. This is also where they can disable crossplay in the event that they find that having it on is causing connection issues.
With crossplay enabled, players will be able to party up with people on any platform, either by accepting an invite from them or by sending one of their own. This can be done via the Lobby screen, where players will be able to search for players by either their PSN ID, their Xbox Live Gamertag, or their Public EA ID. Up to four players can party up with one another in a lobby, though the Lakeshore Online mode allows for as many as sixteen players on a single server.
Some will perhaps be a little disappointed with the limitations on lobby size, particularly as some other crossplay games allow for much larger lobbies. In fact, even the game's predecessor Need For Speed Heat did a better job in this regard, with up to eight players able to party up in the 2019 title. Many will be hoping that Criterion and EA will address this in a future update, though as things stand, there's no indication that either party has any intention to change the current system.
Need for Speed Unbound is available on PS5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC.