Helldivers 2: How to fix crossplay friend request bug
Helldivers 2 has been out for more than a month now, but there’s still a bug preventing some players from adding friends in-game. PlayStation’s extraction shooter is available both on PS5 and PC via Steam, with crossplay allowing players to join games together regardless of platform.
Since launch, crossplay has caused several issues, and a March 6 patch introduced a bug preventing many players from sending, receiving, or accepting crossplay friend requests. As per Helldivers 2 update 1.000.102 patch notes, the developers have acknowledged the problem, but a fix will be coming in a future update.
A March 19, 2024, post from Helldivers 2 community manager Twinbeard on the game's official Discord server also confirmed that the issue is being worked on and is one of the top issues developers Arrowhead are trying to fix right now. Apparently, the issue is taking some time to tackle, as the latest Helldivers 2 1.000.103 patch still hasn't addressed it.
Fortunately, there’s still something you can do about these issues, so here’s a workaround for the crossplay friend request bug in Helldivers 2.
How to fix crossplay friend requests not working in Helldivers 2
While an official fix in the form of a patch is still pending, you can do a few things to fix the issue yourself. First, try restarting the game and/or your PS5 or PC, and have your buddies do the same.
Try sending friend requests several times by canceling the previous request and sending a new one to a fresh Friend Code, to see if the issue goes away. You can also check if the problem affects only one or some of your friends by trying to add another crossplay user.
You may also want to turn crossplay off and on again from the game’s options menu and try sending or accepting friend requests again.
Turning crossplay off and on again may solve your problem.
Sony Interactive Entertainment, GLHF
If none of these basic solutions fixes the issue, you can try an easy workaround below, and still play with your cross-platform buddies while waiting for a new patch.
Helldivers 2 crossplay friend requests bug workaround
If you still can’t accept friend requests after following the steps above, there is a simple solution for playing with your friends. It involves creating an open lobby and having all your friends join at the same time, or, if you are three or two friends, join the same existing mission with only one other player in it.
For this to work, first make sure that crossplay is enabled and that all your friends have selected the same game difficulty. If you are a full set of four friends, go to the same planet, coordinate on a location, and have someone host a mission while the other three players join immediately.
If you’re just two or three friends, you can always coordinate to join a mission already created by another player that still has player slots available.
Picking the same planet and mission from the Galactic War map and joining at the same time is an easy workaround to play with your cross-platform friends.
Sony Interactive Entertainment, GLHF
Each location on the planet map shows the current time of the mission, which will help everyone find it.
If a random player joins, the host can kick them from the mission. Once you’re all in, you’ll party up and can continue doing missions together for the rest of your session.
Obviously, this won't let you add cross-platform players to your friends list, but you can still play together and that's what matters.
Now that you know how to play with your cross-platform friends, you may want to check out our Helldivers 2 tips and tricks to progress fast.
