If you’ve been grinding The First Descendant on your PlayStation but your best friend only plays on PC, you’ve probably wondered how to make co-op runs work without switching hardware. That’s exactly why learning how to cross play The First Descendant is one of the most useful skills you can pick up for Nexon’s popular looter shooter. I’ve spent dozens of hours testing cross play setups across every supported platform, and I’ve sorted out all the common hiccups so you don’t have to waste time troubleshooting when you could be taking down massive Interceptors with your crew. Cross play doesn’t just let you play with friends regardless of their device, it also cuts down queue times for endgame content significantly, so it’s worth getting set up even if you only play with randoms sometimes.
Pre-Requisites to Enable Cross Play The First Descendant
Before you can jump into a cross platform lobby, there are a few non-negotiable boxes you have to check first. Skip any of these, and you’ll likely run into errors or hidden lobbies that leave you stuck waiting on the main menu. Linked Nexon account is the first and most important requirement. All platform accounts (Steam, Epic Games, PSN, Xbox Live) have to be linked to the same central Nexon ID for the game to recognize you across devices. You only have to do this once, and it also unlocks cross save, so you can carry all your progress, skins, and unlocked descendants between platforms.
Next, Same game version across all players is mandatory. If one person in your group hasn’t installed the latest patch, they won’t be able to see or join lobbies from players on the updated version. Most platforms have auto-update enabled by default, but if you’ve turned that off to save data, double check for updates before you plan to play with friends.
The final pre-requisite is making sure the Cross play setting toggled on in-game. It’s enabled by default for all new players, but if you’ve ever turned it off to avoid playing against mouse and keyboard players if you’re on controller, you’ll have to flip it back on in the multiplayer tab of the settings menu. I once spent 20 minutes trying to join a friend's lobby only to realize I’d toggled cross play off a week prior to avoid random PC players with cracked aim, so don’t make that same mistake.
Step-by-Step Setup for Cross Platform Play
Once you’ve checked all the pre-requisites, setting up cross play only takes a few minutes. Start by heading to the official Nexon account page, log in with your email or social media, and navigate to the “linked accounts” section. Click on every platform you play The First Descendant on, and follow the prompts to log into each platform account to link them. You’ll get a confirmation email once each link is successful, so you don’t have to guess if it worked.
Once your accounts are linked, launch The First Descendant on your preferred device, head to the settings menu, and open the multiplayer tab to confirm cross play is enabled. Next, you need to add your friends to your in-game friends list using their Nexon ID, not their platform gamertag. Note that platform gamertags won’t show up in cross play search, so make sure you ask your friends for their unique Nexon ID instead of their PSN or Xbox name.
Once your friend accepts your in-game friend request, you can invite them to your lobby directly from the friends list, or join their lobby if they’re already hosting. If you’re playing with a group of four for endgame Void Battle or World Boss runs, the lobby host should have the most stable internet connection to avoid mid-mission dropouts. I’ve had entire runs crash right as we were about to get a legendary drop because the host had spotty Wi-Fi, so it’s worth asking who has the best connection before you start.
Common Cross Play Issues and Quick Fixes
Even if you follow every setup step perfectly, you might run into occasional glitches, especially right after a new game patch drops. I’ve run into every single one of these issues at least a dozen times while playing with friends across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S, and these fixes work 90% of the time without needing to contact support.
- Lobby not showing up for cross platform friends: First, confirm all players are on the same game patch. If that’s not the issue, have the host restart their game and remake the lobby, as temporary server glitches often hide lobbies from cross platform users. If it still doesn’t work, try having one of the other players host the lobby instead, as some internet service providers block peer-to-peer connections for random hosts.
- Cross play toggle greyed out: This usually happens if you haven’t linked your platform account to a Nexon ID. Log out of the game, link your account on the Nexon website, and log back in to fix this. If it’s still greyed out after that, make sure you haven’t been banned from cross play for violating community guidelines, though that’s rare for most casual players.
- High latency or lag during cross play missions: If one player has a connection that’s significantly slower than the rest, they’ll drag down the whole lobby’s performance. Ask anyone with ping over 200ms to turn off background downloads or switch to a wired connection to smooth things out. If lag persists, you can turn off cross play and matchmake only with players on your same platform for lower ping, though you’ll have longer queue times.
If none of these fixes work, you can check the official The First Descendant server status page to rule out widespread outages before reaching out to support. Server outages are most common right after a big content update, so if you’re having issues the day a new descendant drops, it’s probably not a problem on your end.
Tips to Make Your Cross Play Runs More Enjoyable
Once you have cross play up and running, there are a few small tweaks you can make to have a way better experience playing with people across different platforms. First, Use in-game voice chat instead of platform chat if you don’t use a third party app like Discord. Platform-specific chat only works for people on the same device, so the in-game voice chat is the only built-in way to talk to everyone in your cross play group. You can adjust mic sensitivity and voice volume in the audio settings if people are too quiet or too loud.
You can also adjust your cross play matchmaking settings if you don’t want to play with randoms from other platforms. If you’re a controller player who keeps getting destroyed by mouse and keyboard players in PvP modes, you can toggle the option to only matchmake with people on your same platform. Just keep in mind that queue times for less popular modes will be a lot longer if you turn cross play off for matchmaking.
I play on both PC and PS5 depending on where I am, and I actually get way more consistent headshots with controller aim assist than I do with mouse, so don’t sleep on how effective controller players can be in endgame content. Don’t give your controller-using friends a hard time if they’re out-damaging you on mouse and keyboard, the aim assist is pretty generous for fast-moving targets.
Another small tip: if you’re sharing an account across platforms, make sure you don’t have the game open on two devices at the same time. You’ll get kicked out of the lobby immediately, and you might even get a temporary progress rollback if you’re in the middle of a mission when you get booted.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to cross play The First Descendant opens up way more opportunities to play with your friends no matter what hardware they own, and cuts down on queue times for even the most niche endgame missions. You don’t need any fancy equipment or extra paid subscriptions to make it work, just a linked Nexon account and a couple minutes to adjust your settings. Next time you’re planning a run to farm for a new descendant or take down a high-level world boss, don’t let platform differences stop you from bringing your whole crew along.