Does Friday the 13th: The Game Have Crossplay?

As a hardcore fan who has been playing Friday the 13th since it first slashed onto the scenes in 2017, this is an issue close to my heart. And one that I know many fellow fans have strong opinions on.

So let me clear the air right away – no, Friday the 13th unfortunately does not support crossplay between different gaming platforms.

You still can‘t play with your friends across PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Only counselors and Jasons on the same platform can party up to survive or slaughter each other in Crystal Lake.

This lack of crossplay in one of the best asymmetrical horror games out there continues to be a major disappointment for its dedicated community. Especially for a title that relies so heavily on bringing players together.

Why We Need Crossplay in Friday the 13th

As any fan knows, the entire focus of Friday the 13th: The Game is delivering a terrifyingly fun multiplayer experience.

Whether you‘re stealthily hiding from Jason as a counselor or ruthlessly hunting them down as Camp Crystal Lake‘s infamously unkillable slasher, the heart-pounding thrills emerge from the social dynamics and coordination with other real players.

This isn‘t a single-player horror game where immersion comes from the atmosphere and NPCs. Without a vibrant community to matchmake with, the multiplayer components simply fall apart.

And that community can only remain active and engaged when players can unite across platforms for the ultimate Friday the 13th party sessions!

Unfortunately, the lack of crossplay continues to splinter the player base, preventing friends and fans on different platforms from enjoying the game together.

What the Developers Have Said About Crossplay

Back when I first loaded up Friday the 13th in 2017, my friends and I just assumed crossplay with PC and consoles would be supported. How could the premiere multiplayer slasher game not allow Jason to chase counselors across platforms?

But allowed it was not. And frankly, the developers at IllFonic have never made crossplay a priority post-launch.

In early 2020, Community Manager Matthew Shotwell responded to an inquiry about crossplay on the official forums:

"Crossplay will not be coming to Friday the 13th: The Game. Going crossplay now would require a complete rebuild of the game & that just isn‘t feasible."

While likely true from a technical perspective, as an avid member of the player community, this stance just doesn‘t cut it for me.

IllFonic pushed out paid DLC packs with new Jason skins and counselor clothing packs after launch. Yet somehow enabling crossplay to extend the longevity of their multiplayer-only game wasn‘t feasible?

I digress…this is an article about the facts around Friday the 13th‘s crossplay capabilities, not just my opinions!

Suffice to say, official channels and developers have repeatedly confirmed crossplay is not in the cards for Friday the 13th in its current state.

How Other asymmetric horror games stack up

With multiplayer-focused survival horror experiences becoming popular in gaming, how does Friday the 13th‘s lack of crossplay compare to its biggest asymmetrical competitors?

Dead by Daylight

Fans of sinister multiplayer action have likely played Dead by Daylight, the hit survival game pits teams of survivors against a sinister killer.

Much to the delight of its sprawling community, Dead by Daylight added full crossplay support in late 2021 between PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC platforms.

This game-changing crossplay update brought together over 25 million players, massively expanding the pool of victims and villains to scare each other.

Evil Dead: The Game

As a loyal Evil Dead fan, I was thrilled when the franchise got its own asymmetrical multiplayer game focusing on Ash Williams defending others from Kandarian demons.

Evil Dead: The Game launched with crossplay between PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms – showing it can be done for multiplayer horror titles.

Predator: Hunting Grounds

This asymmetrical shooter strands an elite fireteam against thePredator. As a cool asymmetric concept centered on multiplayer action, you‘d expect it to unify friends across platforms.

Unfortunately, Hunting Grounds only supports crossplay between PlayStation and PC – leaving Xbox and Switch players isolated. Still better than Friday the 13th‘s outright lack of crossplay.

Technical Hurdles to Friday the 13th Crossplay

Given its asymmetric multiplayer DNA, why doesn‘t Friday the 13th just flip a switch and enable millions of victims and slashers to unite? What‘s actually stopping Jason from breaching across the borders separating platforms?

Based on my experience analyzing crossplay capabilities in asymmtric shooters and battle royale games, there are some likely technical limitations:

1. Syncing complex gameplay mechanics

As an asymmetrical horror game, Friday the 13th relies on numerous synchronous gameplay elements so counselors and Jason can battle in real-time:

• Counselor visibility, interactions and attacks have to be perfectly synced with Jason‘s perspective
• Environment destruction and objects reacting to abilities couldn‘t have latency between players
• Grab kills, bear trap placements and other kill animations require precision timing

Maintaining this across platforms with varying hardware capabilities poses major engineering challenges. Especially with more modern consoles boasting faster loading and graphics.

2. Peer-to-peer hosting limitations

Rather than dedicated servers, Friday the 13th uses a peer-to-peer approach – the matches are hosted on player‘s consoles rather than servers.

This allows faster matching but means the host hardware has to process all gameplay. Crossplay means reckoning with varying CPU and memory constraints across devices.

2. Spaghetti code complications

As any programmer knows, updating messy blocks of code spread across a complex application causes headaches. Based on having dug into the game files, Friday the 13th definitely qualifies as spaghetti code!

Implementing major new features like crossplay on top of dated code likely proves too big a legacy technical challenge for the small team.

While none of these are insurmountable blockers if crossplay was actually prioritized, they help explain the radio silence from IllFonic on the feature.

Is The Player Base Big Enough Without Crossplay?

Here‘s where the lack of crossplay really rears its ugly head – what happens to a multiplayer game when the community starts to wane?

Back when I first fired up Friday the 13th in 2017, grabbing a full lobby with players across America took seconds. Fast forward to 2022, and wait times can drag out, especially late at night.

Player counts definitely aren‘t what they used to be. And the segmented community across platforms only worsens the situation:

• Group A is stuck playing on PlayStation
• Group B can only play on Xbox
• Group C is confined to PC

Rather than uniting all these subgroups of players into a singular thriving community, they remain fragmented – unable to matchmake outside their islands.

This leads to shorter killer queues but longer waits for counselors as the overall pool of local players shrinks. And quick matchmaking is critical to keeping a multiplayer game‘s momentum going!

Speaking for myself as a lifelong slasher fan, knowing I could instantly be matched with millions more counselors and Jasons across platforms would reignite my enthusiasm for late-night Friday the 13th marathons!

The Bottom Line

Crossplay empowers multiplayer games to build passionate communities that stand the test of time.

Yet Friday the 13th still refuses to rip off its mask and allow Xbox, PlayStation, PC and Nintendo players to survive together five years after launching.

As both a long-time gamer and franchide fanboy, lack of crossplay leaves me disappointed and frustrated. But mostly, just eager to finally share virtual campfire stories across platforms someday…

So for now, counselors and Jasons remain trapped by the borders segregating their consoles and PC rigs. But here‘s hoping growing community pressure and improving development tools will help Friday the 13th overcome its technical hurdles to crossplay in the future!