After a confusing initial reveal – where it was outlined incorrectly that cross-generational multiplayer would be absent – it has now been confirmed that cross-platform online multiplayer will be coming to EA SPORTS F1 22 after it releases.
“We will be implementing cross-play to allow [F1 22] to be played across any platform,” confirmed the game’s Senior Creative Director, Lee Mather on the Traxion.GG Podcast.
“It will be coming post-launch now. It was always planned to be earlier than that, but there were things that were outside of our control.”
When asked if this will be via the EA Friends List like GRID Legends – where you sign up and log in via an EA account that then syncs across all platforms natively within the game – Mather stated:
“That is part of the implementation, yes. That is what we are targeting at the moment.”
Online cross-play will not be enabled for every game mode, however, when it does make an appearance.
“We are implementing [cross-play] for two-player career, because that’s a key mode to have no restrictions on which of your friends you play with, and for the social play in the game as well. That’s the first implementation we’re going for,” explained Mather, who has worked on every single Codemasters created F1 game so far.
The social play area in-game – aka quick race, public and private lobbies – is key to league racing, such as World Online Racing and PSGL.
“If you create a lobby with your friends, you [will be able to] invite them on any platform. A lot of the leagues use social play to create their lobbies, and they’ll be able to invite in from any platform.”
Ranked online play and Leagues will remain platform-specific for this first iteration at least.
“[This is] purely because it’s a very complicated implementation, and this is the first stage. We’ll obviously investigate expanding further.”
While a timeframe for the update is not clear, when the game does release on the 1st July 2022, all online modes will be cross-generation enabled – just like in F1 2021.
For more about F1 22’s new features and development process, listen to the latest episode of the Traxion.GG Podcast with Lee Mather, available now on all podcast platforms.
Is cross-platform online multiplayer in F1 22?
Online cross-platform multiplayer, also known as cross-play, will be coming to F1 22 after its release for PC, Xbox and PlayStation players.
