If you’ve ever spent 20 minutes panicking as a reaper leviathan chases your seamoth across the alien ocean, you’ve probably wished you had a friend along to watch your back. If you’re an Xbox One owner, that probably made you wonder is subnautica 2 player on xbox one, so you don’t have to face the depths alone. I’ve sunk well over 100 hours into Subnautica across all platforms, and I’ve tested every possible way to play with friends on Xbox One, so I’m breaking down exactly what works, what doesn’t, and how to get the best possible co-op experience without wasting hours digging through outdated forum threads. You don’t need any fancy hardware or technical know-how to get started, either.
Is Subnautica 2 Player on Xbox One: Official Functionality Breakdown
Let’s cut straight to the official answer first, no fluff. Base Subnautica for Xbox One does not include built-in 2 player co-op support, per statements from developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment. The game was originally designed as a single-player only survival experience, and the devs prioritized refining the tense, isolated underwater loop before considering multiplayer features for console ports. When the game launched for Xbox One back in 2016, there were vague hints that co-op might come in a future update, but those plans never materialized.
I was pretty let down when I first bought the game for my Xbox One a few years back, because I’d seen PC players using mods to play co-op and assumed the console version had the same feature. Turns out, Xbox One’s closed platform doesn’t support user-made mods like the PC version does, so those fan-made co-op tools aren’t accessible for console players. There’s no hidden co-op toggle in the settings, no secret code to unlock it, no DLC you can buy to add the feature natively. That’s the bad news. The good news is there are a handful of solid workarounds that let you play with a friend, even if it’s not the true separate-player co-op you might have been hoping for.
Workarounds to Play Subnautica With a Friend on Xbox One
Even though there’s no native support for 2 player Subnautica on Xbox One, that doesn’t mean you have to explore the alien ocean all by yourself. I’ve tested all of these workarounds personally, and each one works well depending on what kind of co-op experience you’re looking for. Some work for local play with a friend in the same room, others work for remote play with someone in a different household.
I’ve used co-pilot mode more times than I can count with my roommate, and we’ve had a blast making our way through the full story together. We even beat the final boss a few months back using this setup, with him handling the rocket launch prep and me fending off attacking creatures. The streaming option takes a little more work, but it’s the closest you’ll get to true 2 player co-op on Xbox One right now. Just make sure you connect both your PC and Xbox to your router with an ethernet cable if you go that route, to cut down on lag that can get you killed mid-exploration.
Common Multiplayer Issues and How to Fix Them
Since none of these workarounds are official features, you will probably run into a few small issues every now and then. I’ve dealt with all of these problems personally, so I’ve got simple fixes for the most common headaches. Co-Pilot Mode not activating is the most common issue I hear about. A lot of people try to turn on co-pilot from inside Subnautica’s settings, but it’s actually a system-level Xbox setting, not a game setting. You can find it under Settings > Accessibility > Controller > Co-Pilot. Make sure both controllers are paired to your Xbox and updated to the latest firmware, and it should turn on right away.
Next up is streaming lag with the Nitrox mod workaround. If your stream is stuttering, or your inputs are taking a second to register, lower your PC’s graphical settings before you start streaming. Turning off ambient occlusion, shadow quality, and anti-aliasing will drastically improve stream performance without making the game look too muddy. If you’re using Wi-Fi for either your PC or Xbox, switching to a wired ethernet connection will cut your latency in half almost instantly.
The third most common issue is cloud save sync errors for shared save rotation. Always make sure you fully close Subnautica on your Xbox before you tell your friend it’s okay to load the save. If you leave the game running in the background, your console will keep trying to sync changes to the cloud, and you’ll end up with a corrupted save file. I learned this the hard way a couple years ago, when I lost 40 hours of progress including my fully upgraded cyclops and three massive base builds. Once a save is corrupted, there’s no way to get it back, so I recommend backing up your save to an external hard drive every few days if you’re sharing it with someone.
Future Plans for Subnautica Multiplayer on Xbox Consoles
If you’re holding out for official native 2 player support for Subnautica on Xbox One, I’ve got some bad news and some good news. First, the bad news: Unknown Worlds has repeatedly said they have no plans to add native co-op to the original Subnautica on any console. Adding co-op would require rebuilding huge chunks of the game’s core code, which isn’t feasible for a game that launched almost 10 years ago at this point. It’s not going to happen, so don’t wait around for an update that’s never coming.
The good news is that the next mainline Subnautica game, which is currently in active development, has confirmed that multiplayer will be a core, built-in feature from launch. The devs haven’t announced exact release dates or platform support yet, but it’s almost guaranteed to launch on Xbox One alongside newer consoles like the Series X/S, so you’ll be able to play true 2 player Subnautica on your Xbox One eventually. If you’re dying for more Subnautica to play in the meantime, don’t waste your money on Subnautica: Below Zero hoping it has co-op. It’s also a single-player only game on Xbox One, so all the same workarounds we covered earlier apply there too.
I follow the devs’ official Discord server closely, and they’ve been sharing small snippets of multiplayer gameplay from the new game over the past few months, and it looks exactly like what fans have been asking for. You’ll be able to explore separate parts of the map, build bases together, and even fight leviathans as a team, all without needing any workarounds.
At the end of the day, if you were asking is subnautica 2 player on xbox one, the short answer is no, not natively, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a great time playing with a friend. The workarounds we covered are easy to set up, and they work well enough for most players, whether you want to play locally with someone in your living room or remotely with a friend across the country. Just make sure you follow the troubleshooting tips we shared to avoid losing progress or dealing with annoying lag that can ruin your underwater adventure. If you’re a diehard co-op fan, you can keep an eye out for news about the next Subnautica game, which will have the native 2 player support so many players have been begging for. Until then, grab a friend, pick a workaround that fits your setup, and go explore the depths together. Just watch out for reapers.
