If you’ve ever tried to coordinate a Rainbow Six Siege squad with friends who own different consoles, you’ve probably asked: can Xbox and PS4 play Rainbow Six Siege together? It’s one of the most common questions we get from casual and competitive players alike, especially as crossplay becomes standard for most modern multiplayer titles. We’ve tested cross-platform lobbies across every Siege build over the last three years, and we’re breaking down exactly what works, what doesn’t, and how you can get the most out of your multiplayer sessions regardless of your console of choice.
Can Xbox and PS4 Play Rainbow Six Siege Together? The Short Answer
If you’re asking can Xbox and PS4 play Rainbow Six Siege together because you want to queue for ranked or casual public matches as a squad, the answer is no for now. When Ubisoft first rolled out crossplay for Siege back in 2022, they split matchmaking into separate input and console pools to keep competitive play as fair as possible. Same-console family crossplay is enabled, meaning PS4 players can match with PS5 players in public lobbies, and Xbox One players can match with Xbox Series X/S players, but the Xbox and PlayStation pools remain separate for public matchmaking.
That doesn’t mean you can never play with friends on the opposite console, though. Custom private lobbies do support full cross-platform play across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, so you can still group up for scrims, casual game nights, or practice sessions. Some players assume this restriction comes from Sony or Microsoft, but Ubisoft has repeatedly stated that the delay in merging console pools is their own call, focused on preserving competitive integrity before rolling out full crossplay.
Native crossplay between Xbox and PlayStation consoles for public Rainbow Six Siege lobbies is not available as of the latest game patch. The only exception is custom private lobbies, which have no platform restrictions as long as you adjust your settings correctly.
What Cross-Platform Features Are Available for Xbox and PS4 Siege Players?
Even if you can’t queue for public matches together, there are still plenty of useful cross-platform features for Xbox and PS4 Siege players to take advantage of. The biggest one is universal cross-progression, which launched alongside the first wave of crossplay in 2022. This feature lets you carry all your Siege progress across any platform you play on, as long as you link all your accounts to the same Ubisoft Connect profile.
All your Siege progress, including unlocks, rank, and cosmetic items, will carry over across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC if you link the same Ubisoft Connect account to all your platforms. For example, if you’ve played Siege on PS4 for years and recently bought an Xbox Series S, you don’t have to grind to unlock all your favorite operators again. Just link both accounts to your Ubisoft Connect profile, and all your progress will sync automatically within a few minutes, no extra purchases required.
You can also add friends across platforms via their Ubisoft Connect username, even if you don’t know their PSN ID or Xbox gamertag. This makes it easy to connect with people you meet in lobbies, on social media, or at in-person events, no matter what console they use. You can see their online status, send them messages, and invite them to custom lobbies directly from your in-game friends menu.
How to Set Up a Custom Cross-Platform Lobby for Xbox and PS4 Players
Custom lobbies are the easiest, most reliable way to play Siege with friends on opposite consoles, and they give you way more control over match settings than public lobbies do. You can use them for casual fun with friends, practice scrims for ranked play, or even small private tournaments with people from all over the world. Setting one up only takes a few minutes, as long as everyone in your group has their settings configured correctly.
- First, make sure every player in your group has linked their console account to a valid Ubisoft Connect account, and has crossplay enabled in their in-game settings. You can find crossplay settings under the “General” tab of the in-game options menu.
- One player creates a custom lobby, then navigates to the friends menu and selects the “Ubisoft Connect friends” tab to find players on other platforms. You can search for friends by their Ubisoft Connect username if they don’t show up in your recent players list.
- Adjust your lobby settings to allow cross-platform joins, then send invites to all your friends regardless of if they’re on Xbox, PS4, PS5, or Xbox Series X/S. You can also set the lobby to public if you want to fill extra spots with random players from any platform.
Custom lobbies support up to 10 total players across all console and PC platforms, so you can host full 5v5 scrimmages or casual game nights with friends no matter what hardware they use. Once everyone is in the lobby, you can adjust almost every match setting to fit your needs: turn operator bans on or off, pick any map in the game, adjust friendly fire settings, enable infinite ammo, or even limit matches to specific game modes like Hostage or Secure Area. I’ve hosted dozens of these cross-platform custom lobbies for my own friend group, and the only time we run into issues is when someone forgets to turn on crossplay in their settings, so double check that first if invites aren’t coming through.
One thing to note: custom match stats don’t count towards your public casual or ranked stats, so you don’t have to worry about losing rank or messing up your K/D ratio if you’re just messing around with friends. If you have PC players joining your lobby, they will be using mouse and keyboard, so you might want to split teams evenly to keep things fair if you’re playing more competitive scrims.
Will Xbox and PS4 Public Crossplay Ever Be Added to Rainbow Six Siege?
This is another question we get all the time, especially as other major multiplayer shooters like Call of Duty and Fortnite have had full cross-platform play for years. The good news is that Ubisoft has confirmed full cross-console public matchmaking is in development, so it will be coming eventually. The bad news is that there’s no official release date for the feature as of now.
Ubisoft has confirmed that full cross-console public matchmaking is still in development, but there is no confirmed launch window for the feature as of the latest patch notes. The main holdup, according to official developer statements, is fixing performance discrepancies between older and newer consoles, and ensuring that cross-platform lobbies don’t introduce input lag or unfair advantages for players on different hardware. They’ve also stated that they’re testing the feature heavily with their competitive esports teams to make sure it doesn’t break the ranked ecosystem once it launches.
Community feedback has been heavily in favor of full crossplay for years, so Ubisoft is under pressure to roll it out sooner rather than later. Most industry analysts expect the feature to launch sometime in the next 12 to 18 months, as Ubisoft shifts more development resources to long-term support for Siege. If you want to stay updated on crossplay news, keep an eye on official Ubisoft social channels or in-game patch notes, as they usually announce major feature updates a few weeks before they go live.
If you primarily play casual public matches and don’t care about competitive rank, you can always switch to PC to play with friends on any console, as PC crossplay with consoles is available for casual lobbies if you opt in. This isn’t a feasible option for everyone, but it’s a good workaround if you have a PC that can run Siege and want to play public matches with friends on other consoles without waiting for the full crossplay rollout.
At the end of the day, figuring out can Xbox and PS4 play Rainbow Six Siege together comes down to what kind of match you want to play. Public ranked and casual lobbies are still locked to same-console families for now, but custom lobbies give you all the flexibility you need to play with your friends no matter what console they own. Until full crossplay rolls out, you can still link your Ubisoft account to keep your progress across all platforms, and host custom game nights for your entire cross-platform friend group whenever you want. It’s not the perfect crossplay setup many players want, but it’s more than enough to have fun with friends regardless of what hardware they prefer.
