Switching From Console to PC? Here's How to Keep Playing With Your Friends

The switch doesn't have to kill your group

Every year more console players move to PC. The Steam Deck made it easier. The Steam Machine makes it even more appealing with living room form factor and a real GPU. But the biggest worry isn't performance or price. It's whether you can still play with your friends who stayed on console.

Here's the practical guide for making the switch without losing your multiplayer group.

Step 1: Check your group's regular games

Before you switch, make a list of the 5-10 games your group actually plays. Not the games you own. The games you play together regularly.

For each one, check if it supports crossplay between PC and whatever consoles your friends are on. This is the single most important step and most people skip it.

Some quick ways to check:

• Search the game name + "crossplay" on Google
• Look it up on pickthe.games where each game page shows crossplay status per platform pair
• Check the PC + PS5 crossplay list or PC + Xbox crossplay list

If all your regular games support crossplay, the switch is painless. If one or two don't, you need to decide if that's a dealbreaker.

Step 2: Understand what "crossplay" actually means

Not all crossplay is equal. There are levels:

Full crossplay: PC players and console players in the same lobbies, same parties, same everything. Rocket League, Fortnite, Minecraft work like this. Partial crossplay: Some modes work, others don't. A game might support crossplay in co-op but not competitive. Or crossplay in casual but not ranked. Platform-gated crossplay: The game has crossplay but only between specific platforms. PS5 and Xbox can play together, but PC can't join. This is the scenario that hurts the most when switching. No crossplay: Each platform is its own world. If you switch, you're playing with a completely different player base.

Step 3: Rebuild on PC gradually

You don't have to rebuy your entire library on day one. Start with the crossplay games your group plays, since those are what you need immediately. For everything else, wait for sales.

Steam sales happen constantly. The games you paid $60 for on console are regularly Steam sales happen constantly. The games you paid $60 for on console are regularly $15-20 on Steam. The rebuy cost stings less when you spread it out.5-20 on Steam. The rebuy cost stings less when you spread it out.

Step 4: Find new crossplay games

This is actually the upside of switching. Your group has been limited to games available on one console. Now your options expand massively. There are thousands of PC multiplayer games your console group never had access to, and many of them support crossplay back to console.

Instead of manually browsing through Steam's store, use something like PickThe.Games where your whole group can swipe through games together. Everyone picks their platform (PC for you, PS5/Xbox for your friends), and the app filters for games that work across all of you.

Try swiping through games to see what's out there.

Step 5: Keep your console for exclusives (for now)

Plenty of people keep their PS5 or Xbox around for exclusives and games that don't support PC crossplay. You don't have to go all-in on one platform. Using both is fine, especially during the transition.

The Steam Machine even works well as a second device in the living room while your console stays connected. Different tools for different games.

The crossplay era makes switching easier

Five years ago, switching from console to PC meant abandoning your multiplayer group entirely. Today, the majority of major multiplayer games support some form of crossplay. The list keeps growing every month.

The practical barrier isn't whether crossplay exists. It's knowing which specific games support it between your specific platforms. That's a solvable problem.

Check crossplay compatibility for your group