No. The LEGO co-op games are couch co-op - two players, one console, one screen - and the way to play one with a distant friend is to stream it from a PC
The short answer is the one nobody wants: there is no online co-op lobby in the LEGO games we recommend. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is listed as two players in local co-op. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knightis listed as two players, shared or split screen, local only. In both cases that means the second player picks up a controller plugged into the same machine. There is no “invite a friend” button, and no patch has added one.
If you and the person you want to play with are in the same room, buy either of them - Skywalker Saga if the household has a Switch or wants the bigger game, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight if you are on PS5, Xbox or PC and want the newer one. If you are notin the same room, there is exactly one route that works and it is a PC route: buy the PC version and use Steam's Remote Play Together, which streams the host's game to a friend and registers their controller as player two. One copy, two players, two cities. And if you want a game of the same shape that genuinely has an online mode in the box, buy TMNT: Shredder's Revenge instead - up to six players, local and online.
Why LEGO games are couch co-op and have always been couch co-op
The entire design of a LEGO game assumes both players are looking at the same screen. The camera follows whoever is further ahead and the screen splits dynamically when the two of you separate, snapping back together when you rejoin. That is a decision about a shared television, not about a network. The drop-in, drop-out structure follows from it - a second person can grab a pad in the middle of a level because the game never needed to negotiate a session with anybody. It is the friendliest two-player format there is for a parent and a child or a pair of non-gamers, which is exactly why our guide for people who do not play games leans on it so heavily.
The flip side is the thing this page exists to warn about: a format designed around one sofa does not convert into an online game, and the publishers have not tried to convert it. Anybody buying a LEGO game as a present for two people who live apart is buying the wrong thing, and that mistake is the single most common reason this question gets asked.
What about splitting the screen - is that online or not?
Split screen and online are different features and the store listings use both words, which is where most of the confusion starts. Split screen means two players on one machine looking at one television, which is the opposite of online. A listing that says “shared/split screen” and nothing else is telling you there is no network play at all. Our main split-screen page works through what each of those store-listing phrases actually commits a publisher to, and why split-screen disappeared explains the industry shift that left this genre as one of the last holdouts.
Before you buy: the three things to check
One, you need a second controller. Every one of these games runs its full local player count from a single copy, so the shopping list is the game plus however many pads you are short - never a second copy. Our second controller guide covers which pads work on which console. Two, check the platform. Skywalker Saga runs on Switch; Legacy of the Dark Knight does not, so a Nintendo household has one LEGO option here, not two. Three, be honest about the age of the players. These are the two best games on this site for an adult and a seven-year-old, and a mediocre choice for two adults who want something to think about - the family picks is the better list for the first case and co-op campaigns for the second.
