Diablo II: Resurrected launches this week but will it include crossplay? It is a feature that has become the norm for many developers allows players across multiple platforms to play together.
For an ARPG like Diablo II, it would be perfect, but is it part of the package?
Is Diablo II: Resurrected Crossplay enabled?
Unfortunately, Diablo II: Resurrected will not launch with crossplay as a standard feature. This will be disappointing for fans with friends spread across multiple platforms. The idea of crossplay was once something thought to be restricted due to stubbornness from Microsoft and Sony. In recent years, however, it has become standard practice.
When looking at a game like Diablo II, crossplay would have been ideal. It's a fantastic experience to play through with friends. That's not to say that single-player isn't either, but having friends on board always adds that little extra fun to things.
Will Crossplay ever be added?
It's very unlikely that crossplay will be added to Diablo II at a later date. Game Producer Matthew Cederquist was quoted saying;
“Cross-play was a cool idea, but it just wasn’t the right fit for the game since the game has different UIs, control schemes, and stuff like that”
This seems to point to the differences between the console and PC versions being the issue. With the PC version, which is considered native, the controls are a lot more expansive and UI less cluttered.
With the console versions of Diablo II, there are considerations made to simplify things not only in the control scheme to allow for controller gameplay but with the UI as well. Once again, despite this, crossplay could have been featured across the console versions of the game as this is likely where people would be more likely to want to team up to take on the forces of hell.