Valheimdeveloper Iron Gate officially releases an update that enables cross-platform play in the Viking survival game. The virally successful release has now been available in early access on Steam for over a year and a half and Iron Gate continues to expandValheimwith new features and content regularly. This newValheimupdate is relatively insubstantial, but it shows that the development of the game is ongoing with Iron Gate constantly looking toward the future.
Before any Xbox fans get confused, the release date forValheimon console has not changed since the last time Iron Gate talked about it.Valheimwill still be coming to Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in the first half of 2023 as anXbox Game Pass Day One release. When those ports ofValheimarrive, they will support cross-platform play, too. That’s not what the latestValheimupdate is necessary for, however.
RELATED:Valheim Player Creates Working Sundial
The latestValheimupdate addresses a different type of cross-platform play. While the Xbox release ofValheimwon’t arrive until next year, a different announcement confirmed that the survival game would be released viaPC Game Pass on September 29. That meansValheimwill be offered on the Microsoft Store, in addition to Steam. Today’s update will enable cross-platform play between PC storefronts, so that Steam, Microsoft Store, and Xbox Game Pass for PC players can all play together.
Several other quality-of-life features have also been added in thisValheimupdate. There’s now an interface allowing players to restore/remove saves and backups, the “Join Game” tab now supports adding favorite servers, and various other changes to make finding a cross-play server easier. Basically, not every server will convert to the new cross-play update, so these changes will make it easier for players to search for cross-play servers, see if their favorite servers support cross-play, and also allow servers to manage saves before updating to cross-play.
This is a necessary patch, as mostValheimplayers already know.Valheimwas incredibly popular at launch, but its community has since shrunk as players progressed as far as they wanted to. Two approaching big events will be happening soon that will surge the number of players, though. The Xbox Game Pass on PC launch and the eventual release of theMistlands updatewill potentially reinvigorateValheim, so it’s understandable Iron Gate wants everyone to be able to play together regardless of the storefront.
Eventually,Valheimplayers will also be able to play on Xbox consoles with full cross-play support. Hopefully, this update hints that those Xbox players will be able to join any existing PC server, too. It’s important to remember thatValheimremains in early access. Iron Gate has big plans yet for the survival game, and ensuring it can be experienced by a single community will enableValheimto be that much more successful.
Valheimis available now on PC and releases in the first half of 2023 on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
