Palworld Crossplay Setup Guide
Connect Steam, Xbox, PS5, and Mac players to the same server.
Supported Platforms
Palworld supports crossplay between Steam (PC), Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, Xbox/PC Game Pass, PlayStation 5, and Mac.
It is on by default. The Crossplay Platforms setting on a new GameGrid server allows Steam, Xbox, PS5 and Mac, matching the game's own defaults, so a console player is only refused there if their platform has been unticked.
Console players (Xbox and PS5) cannot type addresses. They join through the in-game Community Servers browser, and GameGrid publishes every Palworld server to it automatically.
Steam and Mac players can connect either by address or through the community browser.
Enabling Crossplay
Open Settings, go to the Basic category, and find Crossplay Platforms. It is a multi-select with four options: Steam, Xbox, PS5 and Mac. Only Steam is selected on a new server.
Tick the platforms you want, click Save Changes, and restart the server. Like every Palworld setting, it does nothing until the server is restarted.
To allow everyone, select all four. To allow Steam and Xbox but not PS5, select just those two. To keep it PC-only, leave it on Steam alone.
Do not add the deprecated AllowConnectPlatform key by hand - the platform deliberately never writes it, and it will not do what you expect.
Nothing else needs enabling. The -publiclobby flag that publishes your server to the community browser, and the public IP and port that go with it, are passed on every start; the Steam query port is allocated and opened for you. There is no community-listing switch in Settings, because listing is always on.
Community Server List Requirements
For your server to appear in the in-game community server list:
1. Server Name must be set - this is what players search for. It is in Settings under Basic.
2. The server must be running, and it takes several minutes after startup to register.
3. Everything else is handled: GameGrid passes -publiclobby, writes the host's current public IP and the server's allocated port into the config on every start, and opens the Steam query port. There is nothing for you to switch on.
Because the public IP is rewritten at every start, a server that has been moved to a different host corrects itself rather than advertising the old address.
The in-game browser only shows the first 200 results. If your server doesn't appear when scrolling, have players search by the exact server name instead.
Connection Methods by Platform
Steam (PC): the Server Address from Connection Info, entered in "Custom Server" - e.g. 203.0.113.50:28000 - or the community server browser.
Mac: the address or the community server browser.
Xbox / PC Game Pass: community server browser only. Cannot use an address.
PS5: community server browser only. Cannot use an address.
All platforms connect to the same server and can play together once connected - provided their platform is ticked in Crossplay Platforms.
Common Crossplay Issues
Console players can't find the server: give it ten minutes after a start and have them search the exact Server Name. Listing itself is always on, so there is no switch to check.
Console players find the server but are refused: check that their platform is still ticked in Crossplay Platforms. Tick it, save, and restart.
Version mismatch: Console updates sometimes lag behind Steam by 1-2 days due to certification. If Steam gets an update, console players may be temporarily unable to join until their platform updates too. This is a Pocketpair issue, not a server issue.
Server list shows too many results: The browser only loads the first 200. Players should use the search field and type the exact server name.
Console players kicked after joining: check Crossplay Platforms first, then whether the server is full. Maximum Players defaults to 32, which is also Palworld's engine cap.
Admin commands with console players: console players have no Steam ID. Use their platform id instead - gdk_ followed by the XUID for Xbox, ps5_ followed by the PSN id. Run ShowPlayers in the Console tab, or read the Dashboard tab on the Game Tools page, to get the exact string.