Cross-platform compatibility has become a quintessential feature in the realm of multiplayer video games, allowing players from various platforms to play together. Conan Exiles, a popular multiplayer survival game, has a significant player base invested in its expansive and challenging open world. Given the game’s immersive nature and its focus on community building, the question of cross-platform play is pertinent to enhancing the overall gaming experience.
As of the current understanding in 2024, Conan Exiles does not support cross-platform play between PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles. Players looking to team up or face off in the savage lands of the Exiled World are limited to interaction within their respective platforms. However, a form of cross-generation play is available, enabling players within the same console family, such as Xbox One and the Xbox Series S & X, to play together.
While Conan Exiles allows for cross-play within the PC platform across different stores, those wishing to play with friends on other types of hardware will find themselves restricted. As a survival game that thrives on player interaction, this limitation can affect the size of the community and how players engage with one another. The desire for cross-platform capabilities is a common topic within the game’s community, indicating that developers may consider this feature in future updates.
So, is Conan Exiles cross platform? Let’s find out together.
Game Overview
“Conan Exiles” plunges players into a brutal open-world survival game where they navigate the savage lands of the Hyborian Age, as imagined by the writer Robert E. Howard in his “Conan the Barbarian” stories. The gameplay is marked by a blend of building, crafting, combat, and exploration, all centered within a world rich with lore and danger.
The World of Conan Exiles
Set in the unforgiving and harsh world of “Conan the Barbarian,” “Conan Exiles” offers an expansive open-world experience. Players start their journey as exiles, condemned to a desolate landscape teeming with both ancient civilizations and corrupting dark forces. Here’s a brief snapshot of the environment and gameplay components:
- Survival Mechanics: Players must manage hunger, thirst, and extreme weather conditions
- Combat: Encounters with both NPCs and other players can be brutal, with a combat system focusing on blocks, dodges, and powerful strikes
- Building: Gamers can construct anything from simple shelters to grand fortresses using resources collected from the environment
- Crafting: Players refine resources and create gear, allowing for deeper exploration and more effective combat
- Exploration: The game encourages discovery, with hidden dungeons and perilous landscapes spread across a vast map
- Lore: True to the Conan mythos, the game weaves a narrative that touches on themes of power, civilization, and survival
The game is designed to be experienced with others or solo, offering a rich sandbox experience where every choice and action taken by the player can affect their fate in the savage lands of “Conan Exiles.”
Development and History
As an open-world survival game, Conan Exiles has evolved since its initial release, marked by significant updates and expansions overseen by Funcom.
Funcom’s Vision
Funcom, the developer behind Conan Exiles, embarked on this project with a vision to immerse players in the raw and untamed world of Conan the Barbarian. Early Access for the game began in 2017, giving players a glimpse into the expansive world Funcom intended to create. They aimed to blend survival mechanics with a rich, lore-driven environment, allowing players to experience the harshness of Conan’s universe first-hand.
Major Updates and Expansions
After its Early Access, Conan Exiles officially launched in 2018. Over the years, it received multiple significant updates and expansions, each adding new layers to the gameplay experience. In 2020, the Isle of Siptah expansion was released, featuring an entirely new map and additional content that broadened the horizons of the game’s universe.
More recently, in 2023, the game introduced the Age of Sorcery update. This pivotal update brought a fundamental change to the gaming system, incorporating magic into Conan Exiles, a feature long requested by the community. These updates demonstrate Funcom’s commitment to evolving the game while listening to the feedback of its dedicated player base.
Platform Availability
Conan Exiles is accessible to a wide audience through various platforms, focusing on PC and console gaming environments.
PC and Console Offerings
For PC gamers, Conan Exiles is available on Microsoft Windows, where players can purchase the game through Steam or the Epic Games Store. These platforms often provide the additional benefit of community features, such as mods.
When it comes to console availability, Conan Exiles extends its reach across several generations. It is playable on:
- Xbox One
- Xbox Series S
- Xbox Series X
- PlayStation 4 (PS4)
- PlayStation 5 (PS5)
The game takes advantage of the enhanced performance capabilities of the newer consoles to deliver a more immersive experience.
Expansion to New Platforms
As for the expansion to new platforms, currently, there have been no official announcements from Funcom regarding a release on mobile devices. Consequently, a cross-platform playability that includes mobile alongside PC and consoles is not a present feature for Conan Exiles.
Players should stay attuned to updates from the game’s developers for any future developments in this area.
Cross-Platform Mechanics
In the context of Conan Exiles, cross-platform mechanics refer specifically to the features and technical considerations associated with enabling or disabling cross-play and cross-progression among differing platforms. The game, as of the latest information in 2024, does not support these functionalities.
Understanding Cross-Play and Cross-Progression
Cross Play compatibility is a feature that allows players on different gaming platforms, such as PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, to play together. Despite the demand for this feature in multiplayer games, Conan Exiles does not support cross-platform play. Each platform maintains a separate player base with no interaction between them.
Cross-Progression, on the other hand, enables players to carry over their game progress, including saved games, achievements, and in-game items, across different platforms. This feature also remains absent in Conan Exiles, which means that players cannot transfer their progress from one platform to another.
Input Methods and Control Schemes
The input method refers to how players interact with the game, whether it be through a keyboard and mouse or a game controller. Cross-platform games often need to balance these input methods to ensure fair play.
- PC: Typically uses a keyboard and mouse. This allows for precise control, particularly for actions like aiming or navigating menus
- Consoles: Utilize game controllers which may provide a different gaming experience, such as aim-assist for fairness in aiming
The control schemes across platforms for Conan Exiles are designed to accommodate the typical input devices associated with each platform. However, without crossplay, there is no need to ensure balance between different control schemes across platforms. This means that each platform may have specific optimizations that are tuned for its default control method without considering cross-platform interactions.
Multiplayer Experience
In the landscape of online multiplayer games, Conan Exiles offers a distinctly solo or clannish venture for players across various platforms. The game’s server infrastructure and cooperative or competitive play solidify its multiplayer experience, though it is insular to each respective platform.
Server Infrastructure
The servers of Conan Exiles are integral to its multiplayer functionality. Players select servers based on the platform they are playing on, whether it be PC, PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch. Each server is isolated within its platform, preventing cross-platform interactions. For example, PlayStation users cannot join servers populated by PC or Xbox players.
Server Types:
- PvE (Player vs. Environment): Players cooperate against the game environment
- PvP (Player vs. Player): Players compete against one another
Multiplayer servers are designed to handle a specific number of concurrent players, which maintains performance and gameplay stability. Server choice is dictated by the player’s desired interaction level, be it competitive or cooperative.