If you’ve ever logged on ready to grind a few casual matches only to realize half your friend group plays on Xbox and the other half on PlayStation, you’ve probably asked can you cross platform rainbow six siege. I’ve been playing Siege for almost 7 years, and I ran a casual 5v5 community league for 2 years, so I’ve sorted through every last bit of crossplay confusion first hand. This guide breaks down exactly what crossplay is supported, what isn’t, and how to fix common issues that pop up when you’re trying to squad up across systems.
Can You Cross Platform Rainbow Six Siege Across Different Systems?
The short answer depends entirely on what platforms you and your friends are using. Ubisoft rolled out full crossplay support for console players back in 2022, and that setup has stayed mostly consistent ever since, with a few key limitations you need to know before you try to join a lobby. I learned this the hard way a couple years back when I tried to squad up with my friend who plays on Xbox Series X while I was on my Steam PC account – we spent 20 minutes troubleshooting before we realized the crossplay restriction for PC is intentional.
All current generation and last generation Sony and Xbox consoles support full crossplay with each other by default. That means if you’re on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, or Xbox Series X/S, you can match with and join lobbies with players on any of those four systems with no extra steps. You don’t have to link any extra accounts beyond your existing Ubisoft account to make this work, either.
PC players, whether on Steam or Ubisoft Connect, can only match with other PC players, with no crossplay to console available as of the latest game update. Ubisoft has stated they have no plans to add PC-console crossplay in the near future, citing concerns over input advantage and cheating prevalence on PC. If you or your friend play on PC, you’ll either need to both play on PC or both play on console to squad up together.
Cross-Progression Rules You Need to Know For R6 Siege
Many players mix up crossplay and cross-progression, so it’s worth clarifying the two are completely separate features. Even if you can’t play across PC and console, you can still carry almost all of your unlocks and progress between every platform you own the game on, as long as you link them to the same Ubisoft account. I swap between my PS5 and PC account all the time, and all my universal skins and battle pass progress sync seamlessly every time I log in.
To set up cross-progression, just log in to the same Ubisoft account when you launch the game on any platform. All your data will sync automatically in the background, no extra steps required. There are a few key exceptions to what carries over, though:
- All owned operators, universal skins, weapon skins, and charms carry across all linked platforms
- Renown, R6 Credits, and battle pass progress sync automatically between all platforms
- Ranked MMR, casual MMR, and platform-specific unlocks (like console exclusive skins) do not carry over between platform families
Your ranked rank is separate per platform family, so your console rank won’t carry over to PC and vice versa. That means if you’re a Platinum 3 on PS5, you’ll still have to do your 10 placement matches on PC if you decide to start playing there, and you’ll start at the default unranked MMR.
How to Adjust Crossplay Settings to Match With Your Preferred Player Pool
Crossplay is enabled by default on all consoles, but you can turn it off if you’d prefer to only match with players on the same console family as you. Some players choose to turn it off to avoid potential input advantages from controllers with custom mods, or because they’ve had bad experiences with smurfs on other console platforms. I usually leave mine on, but I turn it off when I’m grinding ranked solo to cut down on variation in player skill across platforms.
To adjust your crossplay settings, open the options menu, navigate to the General tab, and scroll down until you see the Crossplay toggle. Switch it on or off depending on your preference, and the setting will save immediately. You don’t have to restart your game for the change to take effect.
Turning off crossplay will significantly increase your queue times, especially for less popular game modes like Ranked 2.0 or Terrorist Hunt. I once tried to queue for a ranked match with crossplay off on PS5, and I waited almost 12 minutes before I found a lobby, compared to the usual 1-2 minute wait with crossplay on. If you’re playing with a friend on a different console, you both need to have crossplay enabled to join the same lobby. If one of you has it off, you’ll get an error message when you try to send or accept a lobby invite.
Common Crossplay Issues and Simple Fixes
Even if you have all your settings correct, you might run into occasional issues when trying to join cross platform lobbies. I’ve helped dozens of players in my community league troubleshoot these issues, so I know the most common fixes that work 9 times out of 10.
The most common issue is getting an error message when you try to join a friend’s lobby, even though you both have crossplay enabled. The first thing to check is that you both have the latest game patch installed. Ubisoft requires all players in a lobby to be on the exact same game version, so if one of you hasn’t updated your game since the last patch, you won’t be able to join each other. If you’re on console, make sure you don’t have automatic updates turned off, so you don’t miss small hotfixes that drop between major patches.
Another common issue is not seeing your friend online even though they’re logged in. That usually happens if you’ve only added them as a friend on your console platform, not on Ubisoft Connect. To fix this, add each other as friends directly through Ubisoft Connect, not just through PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. That ensures you can see each other across all platforms, no matter what system you’re playing on.
90% of crossplay lobby issues are fixed by restarting your game and re-adding each other as Ubisoft friends, rather than just platform friends. If you’ve tried both of those fixes and you still can’t join each other, check your Ubisoft account privacy settings to make sure you don’t have lobby invites blocked, or that parental controls aren’t restricting crossplay for child accounts. I ran into this issue last year when my 13-year-old cousin tried to join my lobby, and his mom had accidentally turned off cross platform play in his Ubisoft account settings.
At the end of the day, if you’re asking can you cross platform rainbow six siege with your friends, the answer depends entirely on what systems you all own. Console players can squad up freely across all Sony and Xbox systems, while PC players are limited to playing only with other PC players. Cross-progression works across every platform, so you can swap between PC and console whenever you want without losing most of your progress. If you run into any issues we didn’t cover here, drop a comment below and I’ll help you troubleshoot.
