If you’ve ever sat down to queue for a Rainbow Six Siege match only to realize half your friend group plays on a different console than you, you’ve probably asked: can you do cross platform on Rainbow Six Siege? Crossplay support has become a non-negotiable feature for most modern multiplayer titles, but Ubisoft has rolled out support for the function in stages over the years, so it’s normal to be confused about what works and what doesn’t. I’ve been playing Siege regularly since Operation Wind Bastion, and I’ve tested crossplay across every supported platform to break down exactly what you can expect, no confusing Ubisoft support jargon included.
Can You Do Cross Platform on Rainbow Six Siege: Supported Platforms First
The short answer is yes, but only for specific platform groups, and there are hard limits in place to protect competitive integrity. Ubisoft split crossplay support into two separate ecosystems to avoid input advantage conflicts between mouse and keyboard players and controller players, so you won’t ever see PC players matching against console players in public or ranked lobbies. Console players (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4) can play with each other across console platforms freely, while PC players only match with other PC players regardless of what storefront they use to own the game.
If you’re playing via a cloud gaming service like GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud Gaming, your lobby placement is tied to your input method, not the device you’re streaming to. That means if you’re using a controller to stream Siege to your Android phone, you’ll be placed in console lobbies, even if you’re streaming the PC version of the game. All valid crossplay pairings are listed below for quick reference:
- PlayStation 5 / PlayStation 4 with Xbox Series X/S / Xbox One (console crossplay)
- Steam PC with Ubisoft Connect PC with Epic Games Store PC (PC ecosystem crossplay)
- Same-family console crossplay (e.g. PS5 with PS4, Xbox Series X with Xbox One) is always enabled even if you turn crossplay off
There is no crossplay between PC and console platforms at this time, and Ubisoft has stated they have no plans to add this feature in the future to keep competitive play fair for all input types. I’ve seen a lot of players ask for this feature over the years, but the gap between controller aim assist and mouse and keyboard precision makes it almost impossible to balance fairly, so the current split is likely permanent.
How to Enable Crossplay for Your Rainbow Six Siege Account
Crossplay is enabled by default for all new Siege accounts, but if you turned it off in the past or are using an older account, you can toggle it back on in just a few steps. For console players, head to the main menu, click the settings cog icon, navigate to the General tab, scroll down to Crossplay Matchmaking, and switch the toggle to on. For PC players, crossplay across different storefronts is always enabled, so there’s no toggle available in the in-game settings menu. If you’re playing on a child or teen Ubisoft account, you may need to adjust privacy settings in your Ubisoft account dashboard to allow crossplay interactions with players outside your friend list.
You will also need to link your console account to your main Ubisoft account to access crossplay features. If you haven’t done this already, you’ll get a pop-up prompt the first time you launch Siege after a recent patch, or you can link accounts manually through the Ubisoft website. I usually keep crossplay enabled on my PS5 account, but I turn it off if I’m grinding ranked and want to avoid lobbies with players who use higher frame rate Xbox Series X consoles. That's purely a personal preference, but it can make ranked climbs feel more consistent if you only want to play against other players using the same hardware as you.
So if you’ve been trying to join your friend’s lobby for 10 minutes and keep getting an error, the first thing you should check is that crossplay is turned on for both of you. If crossplay is enabled and you still can’t join, make sure both of you have the latest game patch installed, because mismatched versions will block cross-platform lobby invites entirely.
Cross Progression: What Comes With Cross Platform Play on R6 Siege
Cross progression is a separate feature from crossplay, but it’s almost always asked about by players looking to play across multiple platforms. As of Operation Solar Raid, full cross progression is available across all supported platforms, as long as all your accounts are linked to the same Ubisoft account. That means your rank, operator unlocks, battle pass progress, renown balance, and most earned skins will carry over across every platform you play on.
Any platform-exclusive skins you earned before cross progression launched will stay locked to that original platform, even after you link your accounts. For example, the PlayStation exclusive Ash skin from 2019 won't show up on your Xbox account, even if they’re linked properly. You also need to select a primary platform when you first set up cross progression, and all progress from that primary account will overwrite progress on any other linked accounts. I made the mistake of picking my old Xbox account as my primary a couple years back, and lost 3 years of PS5 progress, so take your time with that step to avoid the same headache.
But don’t panic if you don’t see your old skins show up immediately after linking your accounts, it can take up to 24 hours for all your progress to sync across every platform. You can only have one Ubisoft account linked to each platform account at a time, so you won’t be able to share progress between multiple Ubisoft profiles on the same console. If you want to switch which Ubisoft account is linked to your console, you’ll have to contact Ubisoft support to unlink the existing account first, which can take up to 72 hours to process.
Common Cross Platform Play Issues and Quick Fixes
Even with crossplay enabled and accounts linked correctly, you might run into small issues from time to time, most of which have simple fixes. The most common issue I hear about is voice chat not working between cross-platform players. If you run into this, first make sure both you and your friend have voice chat enabled in your in-game audio settings, and that your Ubisoft account privacy settings allow voice chat with players outside your platform’s friend list. If in-game cross platform voice chat cuts out regularly, try toggling your crossplay setting off and back on, then restart your game to reset the connection. If that still doesn’t work, you can always use a third-party chat app like Discord to talk to your cross-platform squad, which most players I know prefer anyway for more consistent audio quality.
Another common issue is longer queue times when crossplay is turned off. If you disable crossplay, you’ll only match with players on the exact same console family as you, so player pools are much smaller, especially in higher rank brackets or during off-peak hours. For example, if you’re a Champion rank player on PlayStation 4 with crossplay turned off, you might wait 20+ minutes for a ranked match, compared to 2-3 minutes with crossplay enabled. If queue times are too long for you, you can turn crossplay on for casual matches and off for ranked to get the best of both worlds.
PC players might run into issues matching with friends who own the game on a different storefront. This is almost always caused by one player having pending game updates that haven’t been installed, or by one player having a Ubisoft account that’s not linked to their store account. Double check both of those things first, and if you still have issues, log out of your Ubisoft account and log back in to refresh the connection.
At the end of the day, the answer to can you do cross platform on Rainbow Six Siege depends entirely on what platforms you and your friends are playing on. Console players get the benefit of a huge shared player pool, shorter queue times, and the ability to squad up with friends no matter what console they bought, while PC players get a level playing field without input advantage concerns. As long as you double check your settings and link your Ubisoft account properly, you’ll be queuing for matches with your cross platform crew in no time. I’ve had a ton of fun playing with my Xbox-based friends since crossplay launched, and it’s made getting the whole squad together for casual matches way easier than it used to be.
