Earlier in the week, after multiple years of requests, not to mention observations of the fact that literally every other online shooter has it, Overwatch finally received crossplay functionality, at least in a beta state. Now all players, whether they be on Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, or PC can play together freely. Of course, with the sudden introduction of crossplay has come some concerns about fairness. After all, mouse and keyboard controls bring greater precision, while controllers have aim assist. If you harbor these concerns, then here’s how to disable crossplay in Overwatch.
With the addition of crossplay, all Overwatch matches now populate lobbies with players from all platforms by default while playing Quickplay, Arcade, or Custom, though Ranked play is segregated between PC and console players in the interest of fairness. If you don’t want your lobbies to populate with people from other platforms, though, you can easily turn crossplay off and stay in your lane.
How to Disable Crossplay in Overwatch
To disable crossplay, all you have to do is visit your in-game settings menu. Under the Gameplay settings, just scroll down to the crossplay option and disable it. Voila, you’re on your own.
There is, however, a caveat to this: only console players (read: Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox) have the option to opt out of crossplay functionality at this time. Unless Blizzard says otherwise, PC players are stuck with it for the foreseeable future. Again, though, if you’re playing Ranked, you’ll only be matched with other PC players, so if that’s the reason you wanted to turn it off, you’re already set.
Blizzard hasn’t specified why PC players are in it for the duration, but if you’re a competitive player, you shouldn’t notice any difference in your gameplay experience.
