Cross-save and cross-progression
What cross-save and cross-progression mean, how they differ from cross-play, and their limits.
Cross-save lets you continue the same save file on a different platform. Cross-progression goes further and carries your whole account state — progress, unlocks, purchases — across platforms.
In everyday use the terms are often swapped, but the distinction matters: one moves a save, the other moves everything you have accumulated.
How it differs from cross-play
Cross-play lets players on different platforms play together. Cross-progression lets one player move between platforms and keep their progress.
A game can have either without the other. Plenty of games let a PS5 player and an Xbox player share a match while keeping their progress locked to the platform they bought on.
What is my progress on PS5 and PC?
Only if the game supports it. This is decided game by game, not by the console.
Where it works, it usually runs through a publisher account layered on top of your platform account — an Ubisoft, EA or Blizzard account, for example. You link that account on each platform, and your progress follows the publisher account rather than the console.
So the practical step is: create the publisher account first, link it everywhere before you start playing, and check it is linked before investing a hundred hours. Retroactively merging two separate progress sets is often impossible.
The limit people hit
Purchases usually do not transfer. This is the most common disappointment. Your character level, unlocks and progress may carry across, but skins and DLC bought with real money on one platform generally stay there, because the purchase was made in that platform''s store.
Some publishers have managed to carry purchases across as well, but it is the exception rather than the rule. If a game matters to you long-term, check this specifically before buying content.
Before you buy
If you own more than one platform, or plan to switch, check three things on the game''s own support page: does it have cross-progression; does it require a publisher account; and do purchases carry or only progress? Those three answers tell you everything you need.
Ask us on 16280 about a specific title and we will check what it supports before you commit.