Does TFT Have Crossplay?

Teamfight Tactics (TFT), Riot Games' take on the auto-battler genre launched as a League of Legends game mode for Windows and macOS in June 2019. Since then the game has amassed a dedicated player base with over 33 million monthly players during its first few months of launch. The game also saw a mobile release for Android and iOS in March 2020. This has prompted many players to ask the question "does TFT have crossplay?." Let us look at TFT’s cross-platform capabilities and what it means for players who want to play with friends on other systems. 

TFT Crossplay: Does Teamfight Tactics support cross-platform play?

TFT crossplay was enabled when the game’s mobile version launched in 2020. This allowed players on the PC or Mac to play games with their friends on mobile. However, Teamfight Tactics is only currently available on the PC or mobile. As of now, Riot Games shows no indication of bringing TFT to either the PlayStation or Xbox. So console players will have to use their PC, Mac or mobile devices to join their friends. Playing on a smaller screen has its downsides as tapping on the right things is a lot harder on a small screen, but it’s the only way you can currently enjoy the game with friends on PC. 

Note that even though Teamfight Tactics is a standalone Riot title you can only access it through the League of Legends game client. Trying to access it directly through the Riot client will lead to a prompt to log into League of Legends, iOS App Store or the Google Play Store. 

The unique challenges of developing crossplay

Marketing and Growth lead for Teamfight Tactics (TFT), Jen Donahoe outlined some of the challenges Riot has faced with developing crossplay for the game. She says in a post for Google Play Apps & Games that the company realized the secret to a good port is to, “ensure that we preserved the essence of the PC gameplay on mobile and carried our community through the journey.” Some of the major challenges Riot faced in bringing the game to mobile included ensuring that the gameplay experience isn’t compromised on either platform, considering  UI/UX (User Interface) as a core focus. Another challenge was making sure that neither platform offers players an advantage. 

Teamfight Tactics has been one of Riot’s more successful ventures into mobile, eventually spawning an esports scene with the Runeterra Reforged Championship, the TFT Open Championship and other smaller scale events. Other Riot forays in the mobile gaming space have not seen as much success as the company had hoped. League of Legends: Wild Rift ended up scrapping its esports presence in the West, opting to focus its efforts on South Asia.