Linking my STO Xbox account to my Steam account

[Odin All-Pootis]

How would I go about doing this? I can't seem to figure it out

[ImperatorPavel]

You don't. Xbox STO and PC STO are two different servers and Cryptic does not support crossplay between PC and console.

[smallturns]

Wait hold on a minute besides them asking that question which I'm guessing STO stand for Star Track Online and me kind-of thinking it was about linking your Steam account to an Xbox/Microsoft one am I actually reading this right it isn't cross play cross-platform like other games are ImperatorPavel and if so then crap and here I wanted to play with other people while on console and maybe even help to boot as well?

[ImperatorPavel]

Originally posted by smallturns:

Wait hold on a minute besides them asking that question which I'm guessing STO stand for Star Track Online and me kind-of thinking it was about linking your Steam account to an Xbox/Microsoft one am I actually reading this right it isn't cross play cross-platform like other games are ImperatorPavel and if so then crap and here I wanted to play with other people while on console and maybe even help to boot as well?

Correct. Console STO and PC STO use different versions of the game, so crossplay is not available. I believe you cannot even play with Playstation STO players while on Xbox either (or vice-versa).

Why Cryptic chose to go this route instead of synchronized releases across PC and console (and crossplay) I do not know.

[cap-boulanger]

Originally posted by ImperatorPavel:

Originally posted by smallturns:

Wait hold on a minute besides them asking that question which I'm guessing STO stand for Star Track Online and me kind-of thinking it was about linking your Steam account to an Xbox/Microsoft one am I actually reading this right it isn't cross play cross-platform like other games are ImperatorPavel and if so then crap and here I wanted to play with other people while on console and maybe even help to boot as well?

Correct. Console STO and PC STO use different versions of the game, so crossplay is not available. I believe you cannot even play with Playstation STO players while on Xbox either (or vice-versa).

Why Cryptic chose to go this route instead of synchronized releases across PC and console (and crossplay) I do not know.

I believe it's mainly due to economics - the console companies require them to pay a cut of zen sales, which on PC they don't have to, and also the game was PC-only for like 8 years, so any kind of crossplay would have resulted in old PC players having "free" stuff as far as the console companies are concerned.

Also the console companies gatekeep a bit on game updates, so they can push upgrades to PC faster.

[smallturns]

Wow! that was faster than expected I mean I know I posted a comment underneath this one but you took forever to respond and so I almost clicked the delete button on it...(-: (funny smiley face) regardless though why can't you play with PC or PlayStation players if that's true?.

[cap-boulanger]

Originally posted by smallturns:

Wow! that was faster than expected I mean I know I posted a comment underneath this one but you took forever to respond and so I almost clicked the delete button on it...(-: (funny smiley face) regardless though why can't you play with PC or PlayStation players if that's true?.

"took forever to respond"? This entire thread is new since I went to work this morning. I think you may have an unreasonable expectation of turnaround time here.

But... it is correct, each platform (PC, XBox, Playstation) is on an entirely separate server, there is no crossplay. PC also usually is on a different release and events schedule, while the two console servers (even though they are separate) tend to go together for those things.

You *can* play with and interact with other players on the same server, though.

[TokusatsuTV]

because pc came out long before xbox version, so when they released on console they had to play catch up with the pc side of things, so they were always behind by 2-3 patches for awhile there. they've pretty much caught up now, so i dont see why they couldnt merge them, but even then, they kept it this way since they launched the new servers, so no idea if they could merge let alone even fix any of it.

[cap-boulanger]

Originally posted by TokusatsuTV:

because pc came out long before xbox version, so when they released on console they had to play catch up with the pc side of things, so they were always behind by 2-3 patches for awhile there. they've pretty much caught up now, so i dont see why they couldnt merge them, but even then, they kept it this way since they launched the new servers, so no idea if they could merge let alone even fix any of it.

Previously answered:

economics - the console companies require them to pay a cut of zen sales, which on PC they don't have to, and also the game was PC-only for like 8 years, so any kind of crossplay would have resulted in old PC players having "free" stuff as far as the console companies are concerned.

[SHARK1501]

Originally posted by ImperatorPavel:

Originally posted by smallturns:

Wait hold on a minute besides them asking that question which I'm guessing STO stand for Star Track Online and me kind-of thinking it was about linking your Steam account to an Xbox/Microsoft one am I actually reading this right it isn't cross play cross-platform like other games are ImperatorPavel and if so then crap and here I wanted to play with other people while on console and maybe even help to boot as well?

Correct. Console STO and PC STO use different versions of the game, so crossplay is not available. I believe you cannot even play with Playstation STO players while on Xbox either (or vice-versa).

Why Cryptic chose to go this route instead of synchronized releases across PC and console (and crossplay) I do not know.

That saddens me because I have so many ships I love on console but naturally PC is superior. Oh well. 🤷‍♂️

[smallturns]

I am not sure if that was an insult or a compliment nor both questions were directed towards you cap-boulanger I mean while it doesn't actually matter what time Zone other people live in or which city or small town, they're from I was just asking if what they said was accurate because I installed Star Track Online onto my console sort-of thinking I could play with PC players also and since I didn't hear anything back again from them I thought I would tease him or her in a friendly way...{-: but regardless ok if the game has different servers for each of the platforms you mentioned then that's find I guess.