In what feels like something that’s been a long time coming, Overwatch has finally implemented cross-play, which allows players across various platforms to play with each other simply by linking their Battle.net accounts.

PC players automatically have a Battle.net account for obvious reasons, so console players will have to go through this step before anything else. To celebrate the launch of cross-play, all players who log-in before the end of 2021 will get a free golden loot box for their troubles!

All game modes in Overwatch will have cross-play applied to them except for competitive modes, which will follow certain rules. As per the Overwatch website, “Competitive players will be split into two pools depending on the system that they are playing on: 1) Console players, and 2) PC players. For balance purposes, PC players and console players will not be mixed in the same pool for competitive matches.”

Cross-play is automatically enabled for all players but console players may choose to turn it off whenever they wish. PC players will have this setting on by default and cannot be switched off.

An FAQ page is up for all questions pertaining to cross-play, which you can check out here.