Need for Speed: Heat is set to become the first EA crossplay title.
Taking to the Need for Speed blog today, Matt Webster, general manager of Criterion Games, confirmed that PS4, Xbox One, and PC players will all be able to play together from tomorrow, Tuesday June 9.
He wrote about the move: "At Criterion, we've always believed that games are better with friends. We don’t want your platform of choice to be a barrier for that experience."
To get racing with your pals on different platforms, you'll need to download a new update that will give live tomorrow, and then you'll be able to join up with all your mates in Palm City. There'll be a few extra bug fixes coming with that update, which you can check out in the official patch notes.
There's no word yet on crossplay coming to more EA titles, but fingers crossed this is the start of EA bringing it to games such as Apex Legends, FIFA 20, and more, especially if it can be patched in.
Webster also revealed that this will be Need for Speed: Heat's final update, while also confirming that Criterion is now moving onto developing a new Need for Speed game. He wrote: "Since the launch of Need for Speed Heat and as players continue to tear it up in Palm City, we’re listening to what you love about this experience, and what you all believe could be even better. With these insights, we have a terrific foundation to create the most expressive, most socially connected, action-packed game yet for Need for Speed fans and beyond."
We weren't too bowled over in our Need for Speed: Heat review, saying: "It all feels stretched out to justify its existence. It takes ages to get your wheels and your gear sorted out, then suddenly the story’s all done in a couple more hours. Of course, playing with your own friends elevates any game’s fun factor, and even solo there’s still loads of other stuff left to do." Hopefully, this final update means that you'll have more friends to play with.
Here's what you can expect from this week's Future Games Show.
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Ben Tyrer is a freelance games journalist with over ten years experience of writing about games. After graduating from Bournemouth University with a degree in multimedia journalism he's worked for Official PlayStation Magazine as a staff writer and games editor, as well as 12DOVE (hey, that's this website!) as a news editor. He's also contributed to Official Xbox Magazine, Edge, PC Gamer, GamesMaster, PC Games N, and more. His game of the year - no matter the year - is Rocket League.