Dauntless launches on consoles with full, day-one crossplay

Phoenix Labs’ free-to-play game Dauntless has launched on the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, a launch that includes cross-platform play and progression on both consoles and PC.

According to the game’s developer, Dauntless is also the first game to launch on console with full crossplay support, something that bodes well for other devs hoping to offer console crossplay in their own upcoming titles.

Crossplay has typically been a hard get for online multi-platform games due to, in the cases of early Minecraft and Fortnite attempts, Sony's reluctance to support the feature across console lines.

The company has since changed its stance, though crossplay is still something offered on more of a case-by-case basis for PlayStation titles. Games like Fortnite, Rocket League, and now Dauntless have been granted the go-ahead to allow cross-console play since that policy shift last September, though as of a few months ago some developers still said Sony was reluctant to give them the green light.

"When we first started talking about 'One Dauntless,' we knew it was a truly audacious goal,” stated Pheonix Labs’ CEO Jesse Houston in a press release. “No one has ever launched on console with full cross-play support from the start, but we believed in our vision and, thankfully, our friends at Epic Games, Sony, and Microsoft did too.”

The game is also due to launch on Switch and mobile with the same crossplay compatibility in the future.