Is Shift At Midnight Crossplay? Short Answer: partly. If you and your friends are on Xbox or PC Game Pass, you can play together no problem. If someone in your group is on Steam, though, you are stuck. Steam players can currently only match with other Steam players.
That split confuses a lot of people picking up the game right after launch, so here is the full breakdown of who can actually play with who.
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The Shift At Midnight Crossplay Situation, Platform by Platform
Xbox and PC Game Pass: yes, they play together.
This part is good news. Because Shift At Midnight is an Xbox Play Anywhere title, Xbox console players and PC Game Pass players share the same multiplayer pool. Buy or download it through one Microsoft Store purchase and you are set to team up with a friend regardless of whether they are on a console or a Windows PC.
Unfortunately, Shift at Midnight is not released for PS5 or Nintendo Switch.
Steam: it’s an island for now
The Steam version does not connect to that Xbox/Game Pass pool. The developer confirmed this directly in a Steam Community post ahead of launch. Xbox and PC Game Pass players get crossplay with each other, while Steam players can only join lobbies with other Steam players.
So if your group is split (one friend bought it on Steam and another has Xbox Game Pass) you will not be able to squad up together until that changes.
Is Steam crossplay coming later?
The developer has not ruled it out, but there is no committed date. Coverage around launch noted that Steam-to-Xbox crossplay was being considered for a future update, without specifics attached. If you are deciding which version to buy, the safest move is to check which platform the rest of your group is already on and buy that one. Passing every 13 shifts like the shift 1 or shift 4 with your friends is a fun hobby, do not miss it!
How Many People Can Actually Play Together in Shift at Midnight
The game is built around groups of one to three. A host plus up to two others. Do not worry if you want to play alone. Shift at Midnight supports single player mode.
A patch shortly after launch (around July 23) added the option for a Steam host to bump the lobby size up to six. Worth knowing, but the developer (Bun Muen) has been upfront that anything beyond three players is outside the intended experience.
No Local Co-Op or Split Screen
If you were hoping to play this one on the couch with a second controller, I am sorry, that is not available. Both the Steam and Xbox versions are online-only for multiplayer (no split screen, no local co-op). Everyone needs their own copy and their own connection.
Shift At Midnight Crossplay: How to Actually Invite Friends
Do you want to invite your friends to your lobby and identify Doppelgangers together? follow these steps for every platform:
Xbox or PC Game Pass
Add each other on your Xbox friends list and invite from there. This is standard Xbox Play Anywhere behavior, no extra setup.
Steam
Invite through Steam friends or your lobby code. A Steam-only public server browser was announced for players without a set group, though it is worth double-checking it is live before relying on it, since features like this can slip.
Either way, get everyone on the same game version before you start. A shift with mismatched builds is the fastest way to hit a “can’t join” error that has nothing to do with crossplay at all.
