How Machine Party Multiplayer Works
Quick answer
Machine Party is a 2–4 player game, online or on one screen — but there is no matchmaking, so you bring your own group.
Last verified: · Machine Party on Steam — store page ↗
Online or on the couch
Steam currently lists Online Co-op, Shared/Split Screen Co-op and Remote Play Together for Machine Party. Local couch co-op is the newer of the two ways to play: it arrived in the v2.0 update on 2026-08-12, 13 days after release.
| Online | Local couch co-op | |
|---|---|---|
| Players | 2–4 | 2–4 |
| What you need | A copy each, or Remote Play Together | One machine, up to four controllers — or three controllers plus one keyboard-and-mouse player |
| Finding people | No matchmaking — arrange the group yourself | Whoever is in the room |
| Available since | Launch, 2026-07-30 | v2.0, 2026-08-12 |
Why there is no matchmaking
This is the single most common source of confusion, and it has an official answer. In the v1.5 patch notes the developers wrote that they had designed and written the game for groups of friends from the beginning, and that while they hear the requests for public matchmaking and lobby lists, they are unable to support it. It is not a missing feature or a bug on your end — the game does not have one and is not getting one.
In the same post they pointed players who need a group towards a looking-for-group Discord, which is the closest thing to a lobby browser that exists for this game.
Starting a session
For local play the steps are documented by the developers and we have written them up as a checklist. For online play there is no official step-by-step, so rather than invent one we will say what is confirmed: you assemble the group yourself, the cap is four, and community mods add a server browser on top of the room-code system the base game already uses, without changing that cap.
Capacity, in one line
Four is the ceiling in every mode we can verify, and nothing on the mod scene changes it. If you have five people, someone sits out a round — the full answer is here.
Frequently asked
- Is there matchmaking or a public lobby list?
- No, and the developers have said it is not coming. In the v1.5 patch notes they explained that the game was designed for groups of friends, that public matchmaking was never part of the plan, and that they are unable to support it. Instead they pointed players to a looking-for-group Discord.
- How do I play with friends online?
- Steam lists Online Co-op and Remote Play Together for Machine Party, so you can either play with everyone owning a copy or stream the session to friends who do not. Groups are put together directly rather than through a matchmaking queue.
- Can I mix online and local players in one session?
- We have not found an official statement either way, so we are not going to claim one. What is confirmed is that local couch co-op supports up to four players on one machine, and that the overall cap is four players however you play.
- Do all four players need to own the game?
- For a normal online session, yes. Steam also lists Remote Play Together, which is designed to let people join a host who owns the game — its behaviour is a Steam feature rather than something the developers document separately.
- What is MachineParty+ and does it change any of this?
- It is an unofficial community mod that adds a server browser, voice and text chat, and moderation tools. It does not raise the player cap — its own documentation states lobbies are capped at four — and it is not supported by the developers.
What a session actually looks like
We Team Up On Andy In Machine Party - Party Mode
Kinda Funny Games · 2026-08-08 · 1 h 2 min
A full session from a group that plays together regularly, which shows the side of Machine Party that trailers cannot: the negotiation, the betrayals, and how quickly a friendly lobby turns on one person. Worth watching if you are deciding whether the game works for your group rather than how its systems function. It runs over an hour and is entertainment rather than instruction — no rules or unlock conditions on this site are sourced from it. For how online lobbies are created and joined, see our multiplayer guide.
THE MOST BRUTAL PARTY GAME EVER!!! | Machine Party (w/ H2O Delirious, Kyle, Squirrel)
CaRtOoNz · 2026-08-03 · 1 h 1 min
Four creators playing together for an hour, which is the closest thing to watching a full evening of Machine Party rather than a highlight reel. Useful if you want to judge whether the game holds up across a long session with the same group, and how the mood shifts once people start targeting each other. This is entertainment rather than instruction — the language is coarse and nothing on this site is sourced from it. For how lobbies are put together, see our multiplayer guide.
Sources
Everything on this page traces back to one of these. Checked on 2026-08-15; we re-check after every official patch.