Cross Platform Games: Switch and PS5

One of you on Switch, one on PlayStation

This is one of the hardest pairings to solve, and it is worth knowing why before you spend anything. Nintendo's biggest games - Mario Kart, Smash Bros., Mario Party, Splatoon - never leave the Switch, so the entire top shelf of the platform is off the table the moment one of you is on a PS5. Sony's exclusives run the other way. What is left is the third-party middle, and that middle is genuinely good.

Every pick above has been chosen because both a Switch player and a PS5 player can be in the same session. Four of them are free. Two of them are the cheapest party games on the site. If your pair or group is split this way, you are not short of options - you just need to ignore everything Nintendo advertises on the front page of the eShop.

Start free, then buy

Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys all run on Switch and PS5, all crossplay fully, and all cost nothing. Among Us is free on mobile and a few dollars on console, and it crossplays with everything. That is four games and one evening of testing before anybody opens a wallet - see the free hub for the rest.

Then the paid picks that genuinely bridge

Minecraft is the one to buy if you want something long-term. The console and mobile versions all run Bedrock, which crossplays across Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and phones - it is the single most reliable answer to a mixed-hardware group.

Overcooked! All You Can Eat is the party pick: full crossplay across every platform, four players, and it is the reason we recommend it over the Switch-only Overcooked bundle so often. If you are weighing those two versions up, the answer is in All You Can Eat vs the Overcooked 1 + 2 bundle - and for a Switch-and-PS5 pair it is not close.

Human: Fall Flat and Moving Out 2 round out the cheap crossplay co-op, and Terraria is the budget sandbox that bridges most platforms running the same version. Dead by Daylight is the pick if your group wants asymmetric horror - four survivors, one killer, full crossplay.

What will not work, and why

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Nintendo Switch Sports, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder are Switch-only. There is no PlayStation version and no crossplay to enable. If those are the games your Switch friend keeps suggesting, the honest answer is that you need a second Switch in the room, not a setting.

Helldivers 2 is the mirror image: PS5, PC, and Xbox, no Switch version at all. Stardew Valley looks like it should work and does not - its multiplayer is same-platform only. Borderlands 3 and Elden Ring Nightreign have no crossplay either.

Setting it up: the Switch side is the fiddly bit

Once you own a crossplay game, three things have to be true: crossplay must be enabled in the game's settings, you have to be friends in that game's own account system, and the Switch player may need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription for online play in paid games.

That middle point catches nearly everyone. Adding somebody as a Nintendo friend does not add them on PlayStation, and neither adds them in Epic, Xbox Live, or a publisher account. Crossplay games run their own friends list - Epic accounts for Fortnite and Fall Guys, Microsoft accounts for Minecraft Bedrock, Team17 or publisher accounts for the party games. Everyone links their console to the same publisher account and adds each otherthere. Our crossplay setup guide walks through it step by step.

One free exception worth knowing: Nintendo Switch Online is not required for free-to-play titles like Fortnite and Rocket League, so a Switch player with no subscription can still join those. Paid games generally do need it.

Performance: the honest bit nobody puts in the marketing

A Switch and a PS5 are separated by a lot of hardware. In practice this rarely matters for the games above, because they are all built to run on modest machines - Overcooked, Fall Guys, Human: Fall Flat, Rocket League and Among Us play essentially the same on both.

Where you will notice it is in the bigger worlds. Minecraft render distance and Terraria world sizes are more limited on Switch, and Fortnite runs at a lower resolution and frame rate there. None of that stops you playing together; it just means the Switch player is seeing a slightly smaller version of the same session. If your pair is competitive about it, Rocket League and Fall Guys are the fairest of the picks.

Which to buy first, by group

A pair who want something to keep playing. Minecraft. It is the most reliable crossplay in gaming and it never ends.

Three or four people, one evening. Overcooked! All You Can Eat. Loud, cheap, and it makes a Switch-and-PS5 split irrelevant.

Nobody wants to pay. Rocket League if you want five-minute matches, Fortnite if you want a squad game, Fall Guys if you want to laugh.

A big group. Among Us to fifteen, or Dead by Daylight if five of you want horror.

The cheapest possible shared world. Terraria - just check both copies are on the same version.

If the PS5 player also has a PC in the house

It is worth checking, because it widens the list enormously. A PC opens up Helldivers 2, Deep Rock Galactic, Portal 2, and Lethal Company - see Switch + PC and PS5 + PC for those pairings, both of which have more options than this one.

The short version

Switch and PS5 is a real pairing with a real answer: Minecraft for the long game, Overcooked for a party, Rocket League and Fortnite for free, Terraria for a budget sandbox. Just do not buy Stardew Valley expecting to play it together, and do not wait for Mario Kart crossplay - it is not coming. The crossplay hub covers every other combination.