Company Of Heroes 3 has "no plans to support crossplay between PC and consoles at launch"
The WW2 RTS will be hitting consoles after it launches on PC next year
The big Company Of Heroes 3 news from tonight's Game Awards was that, in addition to launching on PC on February 23rd next year, the WW2 RTS will also be coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X and S consoles in 2023 at a later date. The exact timing of the Company Of Heroes 3 Console Edition is yet to be confirmed, but it will mark the first time Relic's historical real-time strategy game will be available to play outside of PC. However, if you were hoping to get in on some PC / console crossplay action regarding the game's multiplayer, you may be disappointed, as publisher Sega confirmed to me today that they have "no plans to support crossplay between PC and consoles for multiplayer at launch".
I mean, they only said at launch, right? Maybe there's still hope for crossplay support further down the line. After all, Relic did also tell me the other week they'll "go where the players are" when it comes to supporting the game long-term, so you never know.
Still, even though I'll be playing COH3 on PC when it arrives early next year, part of me's quite intrigued to see how it runs on consoles. Sega say the RTS is being "rebuilt from the ground up for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S / X", and it will also come with a newly designed controller scheme (including "intuitive button layouts") and a revamped UI.
I've really enjoyed what I've played of COH3's dual campaigns so far. The dynamic Italian campaign is a refreshing mix of a turn-based, Total War-style overworld map and big RTS battles, while its more traditional North African operation is like the COH campaigns of old, zipping from one big RTS battle to the next in good old linear fashion. There's a lot to dig into, although whether it will end up unseating the original Company Of Heroes from our best strategy games list remains to be seen.
All will be revealed come February 23rd, when Company Of Heroes 3 launches on Steam, with the newly announced console versions following at a later, unknown date in 2023.
For more of the latest news and trailers, check out our Game Awards 2022 hub. We also live-blogged the show as it happened right here.