Short version: yes, Grounded 2 is full crossplay — Steam, Microsoft Store, Game Pass and Xbox all play together, up to four backyard survivors. Here's how to host and join, the Standard vs Shared World choice that decides whether anyone can play without you online, and the cross-save catch Steam players keep getting burned by.
Grounded 2 is crossplay across every platform it's on. There's no PC-only or Xbox-only walled garden — a Steam player, a Game Pass player on PC, and a friend on an Xbox Series S can all crawl the same backyard together.
| Platform | Plays with everyone? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Xbox Series X|S | Yes | Seamless — same Xbox network as Game Pass. |
| Microsoft Store / Game Pass (PC) | Yes | Seamless. Part of Xbox Play Anywhere. |
| Steam (PC) | Yes* | *Must link a free Microsoft account and enable crossplay first. |
Options, and make sure crossplay is enabled — otherwise you won't see your Xbox/Game Pass friends. Xbox and Microsoft Store players don't have to do anything; it just works.There's also no local or split-screen co-op — Grounded 2 is online-only. Everyone needs their own device and their own copy (or Game Pass). One shared couch and one controller won't cut it here.
Up to 4 players per session, host included. One person hosts the world; everyone else joins it. Here's the flow.
From the main menu, pick Multiplayer → Host Online Game, then Continue (an existing save) or New Game. You'll choose a world type (Standard or Shared — this matters), a difficulty/mode, and optionally a password to keep it friends-only.
Friends join through your Steam or Xbox friends list, or from inside the game via Game Menu → Player List. For a brand-new save, a direct invite is the cleanest way in. There's no separate "friend code" system — it rides on the native Steam/Xbox friends you already have.
Prefer to join rather than be invited? Use Join Online Game to find an available session. Sessions are friends-oriented rather than open public matchmaking, so the invite/friends-list route is the norm.
This is the single most important decision when you create a co-op world, because it decides whether anyone can play when you're not online. It's also Obsidian's clever answer to "why no dedicated servers."
The save lives with the host's account. Friends can only play when the host is online and hosting. If you're the host and you log off, the world is closed for everyone until you're back. Simple, but everything hinges on one person.
The host can "Share With Friends" to grant hosting rights. After that, any approved friend can host and continue the world even when the original creator is offline — the save syncs to the cloud after each session so everyone's progress stays in lockstep. This is the one to pick for a group that won't always be online together.
Here's where guides (and store pages) blur the line. Crossplay = can you play together. Cross-save / cross-progression = can you carry one save across platforms. Grounded 2 answers those two questions differently, and Steam is the odd one out.
| Platforms | Crossplay (play together) | Cross-save (carry progress) |
|---|---|---|
| Xbox ↔ Microsoft Store / Game Pass PC | Yes | Yes |
| Steam ↔ Xbox / Game Pass | Yes | No |
The Xbox and Microsoft Store/Game Pass versions share progress through Xbox Play Anywhere — start on console, continue on PC, same save. Steam sits outside Microsoft's ecosystem, so a Steam purchase gives you crossplay (you can absolutely play with Xbox friends) but not the Play Anywhere cross-save. If carrying one save between your own PC and console is the goal, buy on the Microsoft Store / Game Pass side, not Steam.
No — and it's a deliberate design choice, not an oversight. Grounded 2 runs on peer-to-peer hosting, and dedicated servers aren't on the published roadmap.
Obsidian's stated reasoning: rather than run servers (which cost money and eventually get switched off, killing communities), they built Shared Worlds to deliver a "dedicated-server vibe" — an always-current cloud save that any approved friend can host — without anyone actually maintaining a server box. In practice that covers the big thing players want dedicated servers for: progress that doesn't depend on one specific person being online (see Shared Worlds above).
In the backyard and stuck on something? We're mapping the bits people look up most — locations, codes, and the gear worth crafting.