The honest answer to linux has changed at least once, which is why old threads disagree.

Short answer

Crossplay and cross-progression are separate switches, and War Thunder does not necessarily have both.

  • Check whether the version on sale is the current-gen one.
  • Confirm whether your friends are on the same build, not just the same game.
  • Expect one number in every guide to be out of date; the method is what matters.

War Thunder models more of the vehicle than it tells you about, and the grind punishes guessing. Handheld versions often trail the main build by a full season. Console certification adds weeks to every patch, which is why fixes land unevenly.

Which versions exist right now

Everything below is framed around the current state of War Thunder rather than a launch-week impression. Cross-progression carries your account; crossplay only puts you in the same lobby. Cloud streaming sidesteps the hardware question and introduces a latency one instead. Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see.

Some features are disabled per-platform for reasons that have nothing to do with performance. Store pages list supported platforms accurately; trailers do not. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it.

Crossplay versus cross-progression

A cut-down port is still a port, and the difference usually shows up in player counts rather than frame rates. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing.

  • Verify controller support separately from platform support.
  • Check the store page's supported-platforms box, not the trailer.
  • If a menu path does not exist for you, your build is older or newer than the one described.
  • Look for a cross-progression toggle in account settings before starting fresh.

What you lose on the smaller platforms

The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice. If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about.

It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different. Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why.

Streaming as a fallback

A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters.

Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. War Thunder is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look.

How to check before you buy

Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts.

Where people go wrong

  • Rushing the last step, which is usually the one with the actual requirement in it.
  • Skipping the prerequisite because it looked optional in someone else's summary.
  • Assuming a guide from an older season still describes the current version.
  • Downloading a helper tool for something the game already does in its own menu.

War Thunder FAQ

Is this still accurate after the latest War Thunder update?

The method is; individual numbers may not be. If a value on your screen differs, trust the screen and keep the sequence.

Is the mobile version the same game?

Rarely. It usually shares the name and the art, and almost nothing else.

Does my progress carry across platforms?

That is cross-progression, and it needs to be linked through the publisher account before you start playing on the second device.

How long does this take?

Minutes if it goes cleanly, an evening if you hit the edge case in the caveats list. Neither is unusual.

Come back to the caveats list if it does not work first time — the answer is almost always in there.