Is Stardew Valley cross-platform?

By Paulo Vargas Published April 13, 2026

Despite indie darling Stardew Valley only being built by a single developer, you certainly wouldn’t know it by the amount of support the game has received since its launch in 2016. Regular updates, ports to other platforms, and even a fully-fledged online multiplayer mode make the game feel essentially endless. In fact, it’s one of Digital Trends’ top 50 video games of all time.

With Stardew Valley’s 1.6 update adding that multiplayer mode, fans have been begging for cross-platform play, as well as cross-progression. So, if you’re looking to recruit some fellow agriculture enthusiasts or some farming friends, read on to find out whether or not you can pull them from across console, PC, and mobile.

While developer ConcernedApe has worked in an awful lot of new content, at the time of writing (October 2025) Stardew Valley still does not offer cross-platform support, so you’ll need to play with friends on the same platform.

One reason for this could be that, since it launched in 2016, Stardew Valley predates the big cross-platform push spearheaded by the likes of Fortnite.

As a result, you’ll need to play on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, or PC with other players on the same system, but you can at least enjoy multiplayer thanks to the 1.6 update.

Back in 2018, one fan asked ConcernedApe if cross-platform play is likely to come to the farming sim.

“Unfortunately, there will not be crossplay. Apparently, the technical barriers are very high. It’s still something I really want to add and I promise to look into it more closely, but first priority is getting the update out there,” he responded, and the trail has gone quiet since.

As for cross-save, that’s not here either. You can’t save on your PC and pick up where you left off on your Xbox, for example, or jump between Nintendo Switch and PlayStation.

Arguably the closest you’ll get is using Steam’s Cloud Save functionality to play on PC and then pick up on a laptop or Steam Deck, but that won’t be a solution that suits everyone.

Haunted Chocolatier, the next game from ConcernedApe, is certainly looking promising, so here’s hoping cross-platform play and cross-save make it into that one at least. And hey, who knows? Maybe the dev will surprise us with crossplay and cross-save in the future.

The most relevant recent change is not full crossplay, but experimental multiplayer on mobile. Stardew Valley’s official mobile multiplayer guide confirms that Android and iOS now have a hidden experimental multiplayer feature tied to the 1.6 mobile release.

So if the goal is easy co-op with friends, the safest advice is still painfully boring: buy the game on the same platform.

This is the one part of the answer that now needs nuance.

According to the official Stardew Valley mobile multiplayer guide, Android and iOS have a hidden experimental multiplayer mode. It isn’t enabled like standard multiplayer, and it comes with extra steps. Players need to be on the same game version, connect by IP, and often be on the same local network unless they’re using more advanced setup methods such as port forwarding. The official guide also warns that the feature is experimental and may have bugs or save-related issues.

That means mobile multiplayer exists, but it isn’t polished, full-featured crossplay. It’s closer to an official experimental workaround than a seamless “buy anywhere, play anywhere” system.

No. Stardew Valley still doesn’t offer broad, official cross-save or cross-progression across its major platform ecosystems. A save on Switch, for example, isn’t meant to flow neatly into Xbox, PlayStation, or PC in the way players now expect from fully connected live-service games.

Part of the answer is timing. Stardew Valley launched in 2016, long before full cross-platform support became an expected multiplayer feature for almost every popular co-op game. Multiplayer support expanded over time, and the current game supports up to eight players in multiplayer in supported environments, but that still doesn’t mean broad crossplay across every platform family.

In other words, Stardew Valley has multiplayer, but not the universal version modern players expect.

Stardew Valley still isn’t fully cross-platform in 2026. PC players can play together across Windows, Mac, and Linux. Console players generally need to stay within their own platform ecosystem. Mobile now has an official experimental multiplayer option, including the ability to connect in ways that blur the old boundaries a bit, but it’s still limited, hidden, and far from full crossplay.

If the goal is to start a farm with friends and avoid technical nonsense, everyone should still plan to buy the same version on the same platform. It’s not glamorous advice, but it beats discovering too late that your multiplayer plans were built on wishful thinking and turnips.