Nintendo Switch as the 2nd platform. 

At this point in the research:

• I have not started any worlds (no save files) 
• I do not have any purchases
• I have a character created for my XBOX profile (UXBradley) 
• I do not have any servers that I have joined, saved or started
• I have the XBOX profile (UXBradley) and am linking the Nintendo Switch account (Sebastian)

When launching Minecraft on Nintendo Switch for the first time, it asks the player to sign in to their Microsoft account in order to unlock a "variety of features". 

The features are:

• Unlock achievements and track your progress
• Connect and play with cross-platform friends or on a Realm 
• Join hundreds of other players in unique server experiences
• Access your Marketplace content and characters across multiple platforms

If the player chooses to proceed with "Sign in now", it says the " Microsoft Account is Connecting..." but then doesn't actually connect. It instead takes the player to a screen that displays a QR code, a URL and a code so that the player can connect their account through a web browser. 

If the player chooses not to proceed and chooses "Maybe later" instead, they are taken to the Main Menu. 

On the left side of the Main Menu there is a button for "Sign in with a Microsoft Account" 

Minecraft randomly generates a character for the player if they have not already created one. 

Clicking on the "Sign in with a Microsoft Account" button brings the QR / URL screen back up. The code changes each time the player closes and then subsequently returns to the QR/URL screen again. 

Going to https://aka.ms/remoteconnect takes the player to the "Enter Code" page, whether they follow the QR code or type the address into a browser. 

After entering the code providing from the in-game QR code screen, the player is redirected to a Microsoft Account Sign In page in the browser. 

• Signing into the Microsoft Account takes the player to this welcome page in the browser. 
• Clicking " Let's Go" takes the player to the final page in the web browser flow where they are informed that the account linking process is done. 

• The screen on the Nintendo Switch then updates to show the player this connecting message. 
• The screen then transitions into having a "Welcome!" message, showing which Microsoft Account + XBOX profile the player has connected to Minecraft on this Nintendo Switch. 
  • It also directs the player to go to http://aka.ms/accountsettings if they want to change their XBOX settings. 
• Hitting " Let's Play" reloads the game
• Not sure how common this scenario is, but after the reload – my game got stuck on this blank screen where it was just looping the scenic background clip. 
• I had to manually return to the Nintendo Switch dashboard and exit out of the game. 

• The first time I relaunched Minecraft from the Nintendo Switch dashboard after getting stuck on the looping background clip, it loaded in looking like my Account Linking had not been successful. 
• It took a few minutes for it to load in a default character and show that my XBOX profile had been linked
  • Once the XBOX profile has been linked, it displays the player's XBOX profile Gamertag to the left of the screen, replacing the " Sign in with a Microsoft Account" button, while the player's display name over the character remains as showing their Nintendo Switch profile name. 
• After it showed the default character for maybe a minute or two, it began showing a loading animation
• (No screenshot available) I got frustrated after five minutes of the character being stuck on the loading animation as it implied to me that maybe my avatar that I had created on my XBOX profile was trying to load in. It was still stuck in this loading animation after ten minutes and I manually closed out of the game again. 

• Every time after the second launch post account linking, I load into this screen that shows that my XBOX profile has already been linked and it starts with the default character showing on the right.
• Then after either a few seconds or a few minutes, the loading animation occurs. 
• I closed and opened the game four times to try and get past the loading animation.
• After the fourth relaunching of the game and waiting another ten minutes or so after seeing the default character, my XBOX profile's Minecraft avatar / character finally loaded in. (Which confirms my earlier assumption that it was trying to load the character that I had created on my XBOX profile) 

• If the player wants to unlink their Microsoft account, it can be done through the Settings menu. 
• It can be found within the "Account" section of the Settings menu.
• There is a confirmation dialog that comes up to ask the Player to confirm that they want to sign out of the Microsoft account, along with a message warning the player about what they may not have access to while signed out. 
• After the player signs out of their Microsoft account, the sign out button transitions into a "Clear Account Sign in Data" button
• Once the player has signed out of their Microsoft account, the "Sign in with a Microsoft Account" button returns to the Main Menu
• I did see later that once a different XBOX profile was connected, the player loses access to the character / avatar from the previous XBOX profile. (So in this case, my UXBradley avatar that I created on XBOX and had access to on Nintendo Switch while the XBOX profile was linked, became unavailable once I connected the Nintendo Switch to UXTestingPanda XBOX profile instead) 

PC as the 3rd platform

At this point in the research:

• I have not started any worlds (no save files) 
• I do not have any purchases
• I do not have any servers that I have joined, saved or started
• I have a character created for my XBOX profile (Sterling Seb)
• I have the XBOX profile (I had to use my personal XBOX profile here, Sterling Seb as it's my Microsoft account for my Windows OS and it would not let me sign into another Microsoft account without also adding it to my Windows OS ) 
  • That means for this research, my Nintendo Switch account technically wasn't considered "linked" for this scenario, however there also doesn't seem to be a place where I can see all of my linked platforms in one place 

Minecraft for Windows through Minecraft Launcher:

• To get to Minecraft for Windows, it looks like the player has to download the "Minecraft Launcher" After opening the Launcher for the first time, it asks the player to log in with their Microsoft account. 
• If you're on a Windows OS and already logged in to the same Microsoft Account you use for your XBOX profile, it seems like it is aware of this. (I am making this assumption based on the experience of seeing my XBOX profile and Gamertag come up in the "Welcome Back" dialog that appears) 
• (No screenshot available) If you try to " Sign in with a different account" but are using Windows OS, the flow to sign in with a different account requires you to add another Microsoft account to your Windows OS (so I didn't research this flow because I don't want to add another Microsoft account to my personal computer and I couldn't get Minecraft launcher to work on my work PC) 
• Once logged in, the player is able to see the different options within the Minecraft launcher, which includes the Minecraft for Windows version. 
• There is a Settings → Accounts section within the Minecraft launcher, which is not the same as the Accounts section within the game. The Launcher and the game have individual accounts management

• After launching the Minecraft for Windows version of the game, the player is greeted with a "Welcome to Minecraft" dialog which outlines the benefits of linking your Microsoft Account
  • These are the same benefits detailed out in the Minecraft → Nintendo Switch section of this research document
    • Unlock achievements and track your progress
    • Connect and play with cross-platform friends or on a Realm 
    • Join hundreds of other players in unique server experiences
    • Access your Marketplace content and characters across multiple platforms
• Whether you select "Maybe Later" or " Sign in Now" here, it takes the player to the Main Menu where it is already signed into your Microsoft Account because your Minecraft for Windows account is your Microsoft Account
• Going to Settings → Account in the Minecraft for Windows version of the game gives the player the option to:
  • Change Gamertag (requires XBOX app I think – an assumption based on the error message that comes up) 
  • Manage Account (same result as Change Gamertag) 
  • Privacy & online safety (which sends the player to a website that asks you to log in: https://account.xbox.com/Settings) 
  • Manage Realms membership invites (which takes the player to a new screen to manage the invites if there are any) 
• In conclusion, there doesn't seem to be a way to link the account from the Minecraft for Windows version on a Windows OS experience because it is already linked

I did an additional investigation on the PC Minecraft Java Edition, and there does not seem to be any option to link accounts from this version of the game. 

Updated: I managed to add my UXBradley XBOX Profile to the Minecraft Launcher

• I got super confused in my previous run-through of the PC Minecraft experience / research because the Minecraft Launcher made it look like I had to add another Microsoft Account to my WINDOWS MACHINE because they automatically added the XBOX profile associated with the Microsoft Account that was logged into my WINDOWS MACHINE.
• After some more digging I finally realized that I didn't HAVE to add another Microsoft Account to my WINDOWS MACHINE and could switch out which XBOX profile / Microsoft account was on the Minecraft Launcher separate for the WINDOWS MACHINE. 
• I was able to log into my UXBradley XBOX profile, and can now verify that my character / avatar that was created for my XBOX profile (UXBradley) can also be seen here on the PC Minecraft for Windows version of the game

Playstation 5 as the 4th platform.

At this point in the research:

• I have not started any worlds (no save files) 
• I have created a character for my XBOX profile (UXBradley)
• I do not have any purchases
• I do not have any servers that I have joined, saved or started
• I have my XBOX profile (UXBradley) and Nintendo Switch (Sebastian) account linked and am linking my Playstation 5 account (PS-UXBradley)

Minecraft on Playstation 5: 

• After launching the game, and getting past the "Turn off Screen Reader" dialog, the very next message is the "Welcome" dialog that presents the benefits of signing into your Microsoft account
  • The benefits listed here are slightly different than what was seen in the Nintendo Switch & PC Minecraft for Windows versions of these messages. The PS5 one states:
    • Access your marketplace content and characters across multiple platforms
    • Connect and play with cross-platform friends or on your Realm
    • Join hundreds of other players in unique featured server experiences 
  • Whereas the Nintendo Switch & PC Minecraft for Windows versions say: 
    • Unlock achievements and track your progress
    • Connect and play with cross-platform friends or on a Realm 
    • Join hundreds of other players in unique server experiences
    • Access your Marketplace content and characters across multiple platforms
  • Other minor differences on this screen is that the PS5 version has a button bar at the bottom that shows players what controller buttons to press when the "Maybe Later" or "Sign in now" buttons are selected
• Selecting "Sign in now" takes the player to the QR / URL screen whereas if the player selects " Maybe Later" it takes them to the Main Menu
  • Selecting "Sign in now" brings up a "Connecting to Microsoft Account" message but it's not actually doing that
• The Main Menu has the "Sign in with a Microsoft Account" button to the left hand side, and the player's PS5 account name and a default character shown on the right hand side
• If the player goes to Settings → Account at this point, there is a button to "Sign in for free" but it doesn't explain what you're signing into or why
• After going to the Main Menu and selecting " Sign in with a Microsoft Acccount" , the "Connecting to Microsoft Account" message comes back up before the player is directed to the QR / URL screen. 

• Following the URL (https://aka.ms/remoteconnect) in a web browser takes the player to a " Enter Code" page
• Entering the code from the QR / URL screen from Playstation 5 flow, it takes the player to a "Sign In" page in the web browser. Even though this sign in page specifies "Playstation 4" in the text of the message, I arrived here through the Playstation 5 flow. 
• After logging in, the player is taken to the "Welcome Back" page in the web browser and should be able to see the XBOX profile associated with their Microsoft Account.
• Selecting "Let's Go" takes the player to the "All Done" page in the web browser

• Returning to the Playstation 5 screen after completing the sign in process within the web browser, the Playstation 5 screen automatically transitions to show the "Welcome!" dialog where it displays the player's XBOX profile name (UXBradley) and a message saying that the Microsoft account has been connected
• Selecting "Let's Play" sends the player to the Main Menu screen where the player now sees their XBOX Profile (UXBradley) on the left hand side, and their PS5 Account name (PS-UXBradley) on the right hand side, along with the character / avatar.
  • In the Nintendo Switch flow, it seemed like it took a long time for the character / avatar from the player's XBOX account to load in
  • In the Playstation 5 flow, the character / avatar from the player's XBOX account loaded in  immediately. I did not see any loading animation take place before the avatar was just present and displayed on the screen. 
• Once the Microsoft Account is linked, if the player returns to the Settings → Account screen, the options there have changed. 

OK, apparently they DO warn you about this in the QR & URL screen when you go to sign into a Microsoft Account, but because I'd SEEN IT SO MANY TIMES while signing into the other platforms and because the text was so normal looking, I completely missed it. 

15 Nov 2023 Cropped image from screenshot taken from Playstation 5:

Judging by the amount of people posting on reddit, the Microsoft Community forums and other places on the internet, I'm going to hazard a guess that I'm not the only person who missed this text and had no idea what was happening. And looking at some of the responses in those threads just reinforces the idea that people completely missed the warning. 

I had to completely create a new Playstation 5 account in order to sign in to the other Microsoft Account (Sterling Seb) that I was trying to switch over to. After creating the new Playstation 5 account, I was able to then successfully sign into my other Microsoft Account (Sterling Seb) and see my XBOX profile (Sterling Seb) and the associated character / avatar. 

iOS (Apple) as the 5th platform

At this point in the research:

• I have not started any worlds (no save files) 
• I have created a character for my XBOX profile (UXBradley)
• I do not have any purchases
• I do not have any servers that I have joined, saved or started
• I have my XBOX profile (UXBradley), Nintendo Switch (Sebastian) and Playstation 5 (PS-UXBradley) accounts linked and am linking my iOS (Apple) account. (Noor  changed to → iOS-UXBradley)

Minecraft on iOS(Apple) iPhone:

• After launch for the first time, Minecraft on iOS (Apple) goes through several different confirmation screens before the game finally starts to load in
• Once the game loads, the player is presented with the "Welcome!" message which outlines the benefits of signing into a Microsoft Account
  • The benefits listed are the same ones the player would see on the PC Minecraft for Windows and Nintendo Switch versions of the message which states:
    • Unlock achievements and track your progress
    • Connect and play with cross-platform friends or on a Realm 
    • Join hundreds of other players in unique server experiences
    • Access your Marketplace content and characters across multiple platforms
• Selecting "Maybe later" takes the player to the Main screen where they see a "Sign in" button on the left, and an account name with default character / avatar on the right hand side. 
  • It seems to give the player a randomly generated account name here. (I did not name myself "Noor" in any part of this flow) 
  • I am given a randomly generated default character / avatar 
  • There is no indication what I'm signing into if the player selects the "Sign In" button, without actually clicking on it to proceed
• If the player goes to the Settings → Account section at this point in the flow, they are able to change the name of their iOS (Apple) Minecraft account and "Sign in for free" but there's no indication of what you're signing into 
  • Clicking on "Sign in for Free" will take the player back to the "Welcome" message that outlines the benefits of singing into a Microsoft Account
  • I changed my iOS (Apple) Minecraft account name from "Noor" (default randomly generated name) to "iOS-UXBradley" 
• Selecting "Sign in now" from the Welcome message or "Sign In" button from the Main Menu presents the user with a iOS phone notification asking for permission to open a web browser on the phone
• Selecting "Continue" from the notification takes the player to a web browser and a page where it says "Let's get you signed in" 
• Selecting "Sign in" from the "Let's get you signed in" page will take the player to the Microsoft account login page in the web browser on the phone
• After signing in, the player is transitioned to the "Welcome" page where they can see their XBOX profile and associated Gamertag in the web browser on the phone
• Selecting " Let's go" takes the player back to the Minecraft app on the iOS phone, where the "Microsoft Account connecting" message appears
• Once the Microsoft Account connects, the player's iOS Account name (iOS-UXBradley) disappears and is replaced with the XBOX profile name (UXBradley). The default character also disappears and a loading animation appears in its place
• Once the loading animation ends (which happened pretty quickly compared to the Nintendo Switch loading animation loop) the character / avatar that I created for the XBOX profile (UXBradley) appears. 
• Going to Settings → Account at this point in the flow gives the player new options
  • The XBOX profile that is linked is displayed at the top (UXBradley)
  • "Change Gamertag" takes the player to https://social.xbox.com/changegamertag and automatically opens a web browser to the page if you are signed in to your Microsoft account
  • "Manage Account" goes to https://login.live.com but I'm not sure where it's supposed to go after that because I can't get it to send me a verification code. It also opens a browser automatically
  • "Privacy & online safety" goes to the same place as "Manage Account" and has the same issues and behavior
  • "Manage Realms membership invites" opens a screen in the Minecraft app where the player can manage their invites
  • "Sign out of your Microsoft Account" brings up a warning screen reminding the player of the benefits of being Signed into your Microsoft Account
  • "Delete Microsoft Account" brings up a warning screen letting the player know about the consequences of deleting the account. It does mention that this would be deleting the Microsoft account from the Minecraft game on the phone however I am not confident that it clearly explains whether or not this deletes my Microsoft Account altogether 

ANDROID as the 6th platform

At this point in the research:

• I have not started any worlds (no save files) 
• I have created a character for my XBOX profile (UXBradley)
• I do not have any purchases
• I do not have any servers that I have joined, saved or started
• I have my XBOX profile (UXBradley), Nintendo Switch (Sebastian), Playstation 5 (PS-UXBradley) and iOS (Apple) account ( iOS-UXBradley) linked and am linking my ANDROID phone Minecraft account (Kai changed to →  DroidUXBradley) 

Minecraft on ANDROID phone | Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 | Android Version 13: 

• (No screenshot available) After launching for the first time there is a notification permissions message that comes up.
• The player is then presented with the "Welcome" message that outlines the benefits of signing into a Microsoft Account
  • These are the same benefits outlined in the Nintendo Switch, PC Minecraft for Windows and iOS (Apple) versions which state:
    • Unlock achievements and track your progress
    • Connect and play with cross-platform friends or on a Realm 
    • Join hundreds of other players in unique server experiences
    • Access your Marketplace content and characters across multiple platforms
• Selecting "Maybe later" takes the player to the Main Menu where there is a "Sign In" button on the left hand side and the player's randomly generated Android Minecraft account name and a default character / avatar on the right hand side. (At no point did I name my account " Kai" during the Android phone flow for Minecraft) 
  • There is no indication of what the player would be signing into if they proceed with the "Sign In" button
• Going to the Settings → Account section at this point in the flow allows the player to change their randomly generated Android Minecraft account name. There is also a button for "Sign in for Free" but there is no indication of what the player is signing into
  • I changed my Android Minecraft account name to "DroidUXBradley" 
  • Selecting "Sign in for free" takes the player back to the "Welcome" message that the player saw at the start of the flow, which outlines the benefits of signing into a Microsoft account. 
• Selecting "Sign in now" from the welcome screen or "Sign In" from the Main Menu automatically takes the player to the "Let's get you signed in" page in the web browser 
• Selecting "Sign in" takes the player to the sign in page in the web browser 
• After signing in it takes the player to the "Welcome back" page in the web browser where they should be able to see their Microsoft Account and associated Gamertag. 
• Selecting "Let's go" returns the player to the Android Minecraft app, on the Main Menu 
• Once on the Main Menu after signing in to the Microsoft Account, the "Sign In" button has disappeared from the left side of the screen. However, the Android account name (DroidUXBradley) is still showing on the right hand side and the character / avatar is still showing the default one
• Going to Settings → Account at this point in the flow:
  • The XBOX profile (UXBradley) name is shown at the top 
  • "Change Gamertag" automatically opens a web browser and takes the player to https://social.xbox.com/changegamertag
  • "Manage Account" automatically opens a web browser and takes the player to https://account.xbox.com/Settings but I can't get past the verification page (which happened on the iOS version as well)
  • "Privacy & online safety" automatically opens a web browser and takes the player to 
  • https://account.xbox.com/Settings but has the same issues and behavior as "Manage Account"
  • "Manager Realms membership invites" opens a screen in the Android Minecraft app that lets the player manage invites 
  • "Sign out of your Microsoft Account" opens a screen that warns the player about signing out and losing access to the benefits of being signed into the Microsoft Account 

• The Android Minecraft app, even though it shows that the Microsoft account is connected and the "Sign In" button has disappeared, is not updating the account name or character / avatar to match the one from my XBOX profile (UXBradley) 
• I relaunched the game multiple times before I finally got a loading animation and then my XBOX profile (UXBradley) name and character/ avatar loaded in
• It appears that when I relaunch the game, it will still occasionally display the "Sign In" button and my Android Minecraft account (DroidUXBradley) name with either no character / avatar , the default or a randomly generated character/ avatar or the loading animation for awhile before it remembers that I signed into and linked a Microsoft account and then eventually displays my XBOX profile name (UXBradley) and the associated character / avatar 

Chromebook as the 7th platform

At this point in the research:

• I have not started any worlds (no save files) 
• I have created a character for my XBOX profile (UXBradley)
• I do not have any purchases
• I do not have any servers that I have joined, saved or started
• I have my XBOX profile (UXBradley), Nintendo Switch (Sebastian), Playstation 5 (PS-UXBradley), iOS (Apple) account ( iOS-UXBradley) and ANDROID phone Minecraft account (DroidUXBradley) linked and am linking my Chromebook Minecraft account (cOS-UXBradley). 

Minecraft on Lenovo Chromebook | Google ChromeOS Version 119.0.6045.158: 

• After launching the Minecraft app on Chromebook the game loads and then the player is presented with the "Welcome" message. This outlines the benefits of singing into a Microsoft Account.
  • The benefits are the same ones shown for the Nintendo Switch, PC Minecraft for Windows, iOS (Apple) and ANDROID phone versions, which state: 
    • Unlock achievements and track your progress
    • Connect and play with cross-platform friends or on a Realm 
    • Join hundreds of other players in unique server experiences
    • Access your Marketplace content and characters across multiple platforms
• Selecting "Maybe later" takes the player to the Main Menu where there is a "Sign In" button on the left hand side and a seemingly randomly generated Chromebook Minecraft account name (Noor) with a default character / avatar on the right hand side.
  • I did not name my Chromebook Minecraft account name "Noor" at any point during the Chromebook flow so far
  • The "Sign In" button does not give any indication of what the player would be singing into. 
• Going to Settings → Account at this point in the flow, the player can change their Chromebook Minecraft account name. There is also a "Sign in for Free" button
  • There is no indication on what the player is singing into if they select the "Sign in for Free" button 

NOTE: I got interrupted here and had to close out of the game on the Chromebook. This lead to discovery about the default character / avatar / account name that I did not encounter before this (see next two rows in this column) 

• I wound up having to close out of Minecraft on the Chromebook and when I relaunched it (not having changed the default / randomly generated account name "Noor" to anything else) – The randomly generated account name is now, "Kai" and there's a different default character / avatar being shown 
• I was confused about this and did a quick Google search – it looks like there are 10 default characters that a player can encounter if they do not customize their account name or character / avatar (based on this article: Introducing New Default Minecraft Skins | Minecraft) 

• Returning to this step of the research: Going to Settings → Account at this point in the flow, the player can change their Chromebook Minecraft account name. There is also a "Sign in for Free" button
• • There is no indication on what the player is singing into if they select the "Sign in for Free" button
  • Selecting "Sign in for Free" takes the player back to the "Welcome" message that was presented at the start of the flow which outlines the benefits of signing into a Microsoft account
  • I changed the Chromebook account name to "cOS UXBradley" 

• If the player selects "Sign In" from the Main Menu or "Sign in now" from the Welcome message, they receive a "Connecting to Microsoft Account" message, which is followed by Chromebook automatically opening a web browser to the "Let's get you signed in" page
• Selecting "Sign in" from the "Let's get you signed in" page takes the player to the "Microsoft sign in" page in the web browser
• After signing in, the player sees the "Welcome back" message and should see their XBOX profile and associated Gamertag. 
• Selecting "Let's go" takes the player out of the web browser and back to the Chromebook Minecraft app. 

• After loading back into the Chromebook Minecraft app it looks like the "Sign In" button has disappeared from the left hand side of the screen, but the right hand side is still showing the Chromebook Minecraft account name (cOS UXBradley) and one of the default characters / avatars
• At this point I closed out the app and reopened it in attempt to see if it would display the correct character associated with my XBOX Profile (UXBradley)

Closed and reopened the Chromebook Minecraft app:

• After closing and reopening the Chromebook Minecraft app, the "Sign In" button on the Main Menu has now returned, it's still displaying the Chromebook Minecraft account name (cOS UXBradley) and it's still showing a default character / avatar 
• I opened the Settings → Account section to see if I was signed in to the Microsoft Account and connected to my XBOX profile – I was, but the "Sign In" button is still showing on the Main Menu
• I closed and reopened the Chromebook Minecraft app again

Closed and reopened the Chromebook Minecraft app a second time:

• After closing and opening the Minecraft app a second time, the "Sign In" button has now disappeared from the Main Menu and my XBOX profile name (UXBradley) is displayed on the right hand side of the screen, with a loading animation where the character / avatar should be. 
• My XBOX profile (UXBradley) name and character / avatar are finally loaded onto the Main Menu – this unfortunately is not a consistent experience as I closed and reopened the Chromebook Minecraft app a few more times after this and it doesn't always immediately load in my XBOX profile name and character. I am still somewhat consistently seeing the "Sign In" button appear and seeing the Chromebook Minecraft account name (cOS UXBradley) and default character / avatar instead of my XBOX profile name (UXBradley) and associated character / avatar. 
• Going to Settings → Account at this point in the flow presents the player with the same options as they would see in the iOS (Apple) and ANDROID Minecraft experiences at this same in the user flow. These options are:
  • Change Gamertag
  • Manage Account
  • Privacy & online safety
  • Manage Realms membership invites 
  • Sign out of your Microsoft Account

Nintendo Switch as the 1st platform

At this point in the research:

• I have not started any worlds (no save files) 
• I do not have any purchases
• I do not have any servers that I have joined, saved or started
• I do not have any characters created 
• I do not have a Microsoft Account
• I do not have a XBOX profile or associated Gamertag

I wanted to know what the player experience is when the player's first platform isn't XBOX. In this scenario, I am looking into the experience when the player first starts Minecraft on Nintendo Switch, creates a new Microsoft account and then links the accounts. 

• In the scenario where the user does not have a Microsoft account, they are still able to reach the QR screen which directs them to the Remote Connect URL. 
• On the Remote Connect page that the player reaches by going to the URL in their browser, after the player enters the code provided on the QR screen, they have the option to create a new account if they do not already have a Microsoft Account
• For the purposes of this research I have gone down the path of " I do not have a Microsoft Account and I am creating a new account" 
• The player is able to enter a phone number or email address for their Microsoft account creation (I missed catching a screenshot for this step so it is not shown) 
• After the Microsoft account is created the player is then able to create a XBOX profile Gamertag to be associated with the account
• In my session for this flow, I encountered an error after creating the Gamertag and could not complete account linking action that I had set out to do. The error screen presented a message that said the code had expired
• I had to close and reopen the QR screen within the Nintendo Switch to generate a new code and try the account linking process again
• After account linking in the web browser and returning to the Nintendo Switch screen, there is now the "Welcome" screen showing that my XBOX profle has been signed in. (UXTestingPanda)
• After clicking "Let's Play" the screen gets stuck on the looping background clip and I had to exist out of the game 

After relaunching:

• Even though the accounts are linked now, after relaunch the Main Menu shows a message that says "Signing into Minecraft Account" 
• This then transitions into the button that says, "Sign in with a Microsoft Account" and shows a default character on the right hand side
• After that, the screen transitions into the loading animation on the right hand side, though I'm not sure what character it's trying to load since in this scenario I do not have a Microsoft profile that has any save data for Minecraft. In this scenario, I only have a Nintendo Switch Minecraft game and created a new Microsoft account to link to. 
• Eventually the loading animation ends and it loads in a generic / default character avatar. (This is not one that I had created/ customized) 

XBOX as the 2nd platform.

At this point in the research:

• I have not started any worlds (no save files) 
• I do not have any purchases
• I do not have any servers that I have joined, saved or started
• I have created a character on my Nintendo Switch account 
• I have the Nintendo Switch account (Sebastian) and my newly created Microsoft account and am linking my newly created XBOX profile (UXTestingPanda)

Minecraft on XBOX Series S: 

• After customizing a character for Nintendo Switch, I went back to the Main Menu and for some reason there was now a "Sign in with a Nintendo Account" button
• When I tried selecting / clicking on the button it turned back into the "Sign in with a Microsoft Account" button 
• It then turned into the "UXTestingPanda" XBOX profile display 
• Then the character on the right hand side went into the loading animation
• When it loaded in, it loaded into the Default character that was displayed at the end of my account linking from the day before (meaning it looks like it didn't save my customized character) 
• I'm not sure what caused this scenario but wanted to capture it here in the research document because it was a weird experience

• For the next scenario, where I wanted to see what happens if the player starts on the Nintendo Switch, creates a new Microsoft account, links it and then creates a character in Minecraft on the Nintendo Switch first – and then goes onto XBOX with the profile they newly created. 

• After linking the account from the Nintendo Switch side, I went back to the XBOX
• In this scenario:
  • The UXTestingPanda XBOX profile that was newly created in the Nintendo Switch flow above, has never been added to this XBOX before. 
  • I added the UXTestingPanda XBOX profile to this XBOX for the first time and then launched the Minecraft game
• After launching the game, it starts with the Minecraft loading screen and then transitions to a dialog that says " Syncing user data" 
• Once the user data has synced, it asks the player to turn off the Screen Reader functionality or leave it on (this seems to be part first time user flow) 
• After the Screen Reader dialog, the player is sent to the Main Menu. There is no indication from the XBOX Minecraft side that I have a Nintendo Switch account linked to this XBOX profile, however it does load in my character / avatar that I created on the Nintendo Switch version of Minecraft
• The character loads in much faster in the XBOX flow than it does on the Nintendo Switch flow
• Going to Settings → Account on XBOX Minecraft, there is also no indication that there are any other accounts on any other platforms linked to this XBOX profile on XBOX Minecraft
  • There doesn't seem to be any way to unlink the accounts from the XBOX side 

Checking to see if any Platform can see other Platforms linked: 

Screenshot from 17 Nov 2023 on XBOX: 

Playstation 5:

PC Minecraft for Windows:

Chromebook: 

Nintendo Switch:

Android:

iOS (Apple): 

All Platforms Linked & Signed In to the same Microsoft Account

At this point in the research: 

• All Platforms available to me are linked to the same Microsoft Account / XBOX Profile (UXBradley)
• I have created a character on my XBOX Profile (UXBradley) and see this character / avatar on every Main Menu across all the platforms available to me 
• I have not started any worlds (no save files) 
• I do not have any purchases
• I do not have any servers that I have joined, saved or started

Simultaneously Signed In to Main Menu: 

• I wanted to see if I could be signed in and on every single Platform simultaneously. All platforms shown in the picture are logged into the XBOX Profile (UXBradley) and online at the same time. This does not seem to give any sort of warning that this is not allowed. 
  • XBOX (left monitor)
  • PS5 (middle monitor) 
  • PC Minecraft for Windows (right monitor)
  • Chromebook (Blue laptop)
  • Nintendo Switch (above keyboard) 
  • Android (phone on top)
  • iOS (Apple) | (phone on bottom) 

I checked to see if there was any indication that any of the Platforms could see that I had linked other platforms to my Microsoft Account / XBOX Profile (UXBradley): 

• XBOX (No)
• Playstation 5 (No)
• PC Minecraft for Windows (No)
• Chromebook (No)
• Nintendo Switch (No)
• Android (No)
• iOS (Apple) | (No)

There's supposed to be a way to see it on the Microsoft Site: How to find out which microsoft account my mojang account has been - Microsoft Community

But I can't seem to access the "Privacy" page because it won't let me past the verification step (I don't know what's going on with the verification thing so I can't confirm the accuracy of the steps in that link above) 

Epic Launcher Dropdown Menu:

Fortnite on XBOX Series S: 

• After selecting "PRESS TO START" on the Title Screen, the player selects which XBOX Profile they are signing in with
• There is a logging in animation and then there's a "LINK AN ACCOUNT" message
• Selecting "SKIP THIS" takes the player to a screen where it tells them that if they skip linking their XBOX Account to their Epic Games account at this point, they will not be able to link it from within the game in the future. 
• Selecting "LINK AN ACCOUNT" will take the player to a screen that directs them to complete the linking flow on a different device. It tells the player to go to https://www.epicgames.com/activate in a web browser and the instructs the player to enter the code shown on their XBOX screen
• If the countdown reaches 0, the screen transitions into a "Pin Code Expired" screen where the player can select "REFRESH CODE" and it will return them to the previous screen and generate a new code as well as reset the countdown clock

Fortnite on Playstation 5:

• After selecting "PRESS TO START" on the Title Screen, there is a logging in animation and then there's a "LINK AN ACCOUNT" message
• Selecting "SKIP THIS" takes the player to a screen where it tells them that if they skip linking their Playstation Account to their Epic Games account at this point, they will not be able to link it from within the game in the future. 
• Selecting "LINK AN ACCOUNT" will take the player to a screen that directs them to complete the linking flow on a different device. It tells the player to go tohttps://www.epicgames.com/activate in a web browser and the instructs the player to enter the code shown on their Playstation screen

NOTE There does not seem to be a way to skip account linking / signing in on ANDROID phone.

• Once the player completes the sign in flow for their Epic Games account, it returns the player to the Fortnite game within the phone and proceeds to a "logging in" screen
• The player eventually reaches the Main Menu where there is no indication that their accounts are linked or what even their account name is on the ANDROID phone (since the player can not see their account name or information on the Main Menu)
• Once the player selects a mode it brings them to a view where they can now see their account name. The account name displayed here is the Epic Games account (e-UXBradley)
• Opening up the social panel, it lands the player on what looks to be the friends list as the default view. Here I can now see there's are headers for the following groups:
  • EPIC ONLINE
  • AWAY
  • OFFLINE
  • BLOCKED

• If the player navigates up one in the social panel to what I think is the profile, in the top of the panel the player can see their linked accounts. At this point in the research, mine displays:
  • The Epic Games account (e-UXBradley)
  • The Playstation account (PS-UXBradley)
  • The XBOX Profile (UXBradley) 
• If the player goes to Settings → Account, they are also able to see their Epic Games account name under "Epic Account ID" 

The platforms that have the same exact flow are:

• XBOX
• Playstation 5
• Nintendo Switch

IMPORTANT

Once the player selects "NO THANKS, PLAY FORTNITE":

• It takes the player to the Main Menu where there is no indication of their account name on the platform
• If the player selects a mode, they go to a view where they can see their platform account name. In this instance it's my XBOX profile name UXBradley. There is no information on this screen about account linking. 
• If the player opens the social panel they can see their friends list. There is also no information on this screen about account linking.
• In the social panel → profile the player is able to see their platform account name at the top. In this instance it's my XBOX Profile name UXBradley. There is also no information about account linking in this panel. 
• If the player goes to Settings → Account, they can see their "Epic Account ID" however in this instance it's showing my XBOX profile name UXBradley. (Which I'm assuming means they've counted my XBOX Profile as an Epic Account) 
• If the player does NOT link the accounts during the "LINK AN ACCOUNT" step and chooses to skip it and continue into the game, there is no way for them to link the accounts within the game later if they change their mind. 

 NOTE Once the account linking is skipped during the "LINK AN ACCOUNT" step, there is no longer a way for the player to link accounts from within the game. 

From in the web browser:

The workaround: 

Back to XBOX: 

Player skipped account linking during "LINK AN ACCOUNT" step within the game then tried to link accounts later through Epic Games website

During the earlier steps in the research I discovered that if the player skips account linking during the "LINK AN ACCOUNT" step, it causes the following issues:

• The player is unable to initiate account linking again from within the game on the platform where they skipped account linking
• The player will be unable to link the account for that platform through the Epic Games website unless they search for a workaround 

This is the same for all platforms so I am only capturing the XBOX flow here to demonstrate the player experience in this scenario.

Skipped Account Linking on XBOX: 

• I am using a brand new XBOX profile (UXRTesting) for this investigation 
• I have skipped linking account during the "LINK AN ACCOUNT" step on XBOX first launch of Fortnite
• There is no longer a way to link my accounts from within the game

In the Epic Games website: 

• I have logged into my Epic Games account (e-UXRTesting) which does not have a XBOX profile linked to it
• Go through the Sign In + Account linking steps
• Receive an error message saying that the XBOX account is already linked to another epic games account. 

After I did a lot of searching on Google, I found quite a few people who ran into this issue and eventually found a workaround that someone suggested buried in the comments of a reddit post.

The workaround (this works sometimes):

• The player has to go to the Epic Games website and sign in using the platform account where they skipped linking accounts. For the purposes of this investigation, I did this with the XBOX account (UXRTesting) 
• When the player signs in with the platform account, in this case the XBOX profile, the Epic Games site directs them to complete the account creation flow, with the message "Hi, we've found your XBOX network Account. Create an Epic Games account connection to save your information and progression" at the top of the page. 
• After completing the Epic Games account creation, the player can then go to Account → Apps and Accounts and remove the XBOX profile.
• The player can then return to XBOX, launch the game and link the accounts
  • I tried this twice. It worked once, it failed the second time so this is not a consistent workaround.

XBOX Social Panel → Profile: 

Playstation Social Panel → Profile: 

Nintendo Social Panel → Profile:

ANDROID phone Social Panel → Profile: 

All accounts are linked through "LINK AN ACCOUNT" step in first launch flow for each platform.

At this point in the research:

• I have a Epic Games account (e-UXBradley)
• I have a XBOX profile (UXBradley)
• I have a Playstation account (PS-UXBradley)
• I have a Nintendo account (Sebuwu)
• I downloaded and installed Fortnite on ANDROID phone and am logged into my Epic Games account there
• All linkable accounts are linked.

Aside from seeing that all the accounts are linked on the Social Panel → Profile screen within the game on each platform, the player can also go to the Epic Games website  (https://www.epicgames.com). Once they go to Account → Apps & Accounts, the player will be able to see all of the connected accounts on this page and have the option to "REMOVE" or unlink each account they have linked.

Selecting "CONNECT" for the Playstation account:

Selecting "CONNECT" for the Nintendo account:

Returning to XBOX: 

Social Panel → Profile: 

Linking Nintendo account on Epic Games website: 

• Selecting "Connect" for the XBOX account will take the player to a "Connect Your Nintendo Account" page. 
• Selecting "Connect Account" from the "Connect Your Nintendo Account" page will bring up a new window for Nintendo Account sign in. 
• Once the player is through the Sign In flow, they are returned to the "Apps and Accounts" page within the Epic Games website and there is a small message toast that pops up at the bottom letting the player know that they have successfully connected the Nintendo account. 
• If the player looks at the Nintendo box on the page it also displays a "REMOVE" button now, and the player's Nintendo account email address is displayed (partially censored) beneath the Nintendo logo.
  • This differs from the XBOX and Playstation flows where the player's account name is displayed instead of the associated email. 
  • This also differs from the Nintendo flow where if the player links the accounts from the "LINK AN ACCOUNT" screen inside the game, the Nintendo box does not display any account or email, but the button says "REMOVE". 

Returning to the Platform and launching the game:

• I am only capturing the XBOX flow here because I checked the Nintendo and Playstation ones and they are exactly the same.
• Once the player has linked the accounts on the Epic Games website, they can return to their platform and launch the game. In this research scenario, I am returning to the XBOX and launching Fortnite. 
• Since the account is already linked in this flow, the player never sees the "LINK AN ACCOUNT" screen that would normally pop up on the first launch of the game. 
• Checking Social Panel → Profile, the linked accounts are shown at the top of the panel.

Selecting "REMOVE" Playstation account:

Selecting "REMOVE" Nintendo account:

Unlinking XBOX account on Epic Games website: 

• Selecting "REMOVE" brings up an overlay and a prompt on the "Accounts and Apps" page asking the player if they are sure that they want to remove the account.
• The player has to manually check each checkbox to confirm they understanding that:
  • Shared profile data will be rest on this account
  • Shared game progression and history will be reset on this account
  • Purchases and earned game content will be reset on this account
  • I will not be able to connect my Epic Games Account to another XBox network account
• After checking the checkboxes and selecting "REMOVE ACCOUNT" the unlinking process is complete and the player is returned to the "Accounts and Apps" page with a message about the successful unlinking appearing at the bottom. 

Unlinking Playstation account on Epic Games website: 

• Selecting "REMOVE" brings up an overlay and a prompt on the "Accounts and Apps" page asking the player if they are sure that they want to remove the account.
• The player has to manually check each checkbox to confirm they understanding that:
  • Shared profile data will be rest on this account
  • Shared game progression and history will be reset on this account
  • Purchases and earned game content will be reset on this account
  • I will not be able to connect my Epic Games Account to another Playstation Network account
• After checking the checkboxes and selecting "REMOVE ACCOUNT" the unlinking process is complete and the player is returned to the "Accounts and Apps" page with a message about the successful unlinking appearing at the bottom. 

Unlinking Nintendo account on Epic Games website: 

• Selecting "REMOVE" brings up an overlay and a prompt on the "Accounts and Apps" page asking the player if they are sure that they want to remove the account.
• The player has to manually check each checkbox to confirm they understanding that:
  • Shared profile data will be rest on this account
  • Shared game progression and history will be reset on this account
  • Purchases and earned game content will be reset on this account
  • I will not be able to connect my Epic Games Account to another Nintendo account
• After checking the checkboxes and selecting "REMOVE ACCOUNT" the unlinking process is complete and the player is returned to the "Accounts and Apps" page with a message about the successful unlinking appearing at the bottom. 

On next launch in platforms where accounts were unlinked, "LINK AN ACCOUNT" flow returns

I am only showing the XBOX flow here as I checked on the other platforms (Playstation, Nintendo) and the flow is the same.

• Once the player has unlinked the account from the Epic Games website, the next time they launch the game on the platform they will encounter the "LINK AN ACCOUNT" screen again. There is no difference in steps or flow between this experience and when the player launches the game on the platform for the first time and encounters this flow. 
• The player is able to link / unlink the account as many times as they want as long as they do NOT choose "SKIP THIS" at any point in this flow and follow through with completing the account linking steps. 

Can the player remove / unlink one platform account and link a different one using the "LINK AN ACCOUNT" flow

There is a warning in the remove account flow in the Epic Games website for unlinking any of the platform accounts that were connected, but I wanted to double check.

Attempting to link a different EPIC GAMES account through the "LINK AN ACCOUNT" flow on XBOX: 

• I unlinked my XBOX Profile (UXRBradley) from my Epic Games account (e-UXRBradley)
• I created a brand new Epic Games account (e-UXRTesting)
• I am relaunching Fortnite on the XBOX 
• Grabbed the pin code from the XBOX screen
• Went to a web browser and did the sign in + account linking steps
• Even though the warning had said that the player would not be able to link a different Epic Games account to their XBOX account (UXRBradley), I was able to link the new Epic Games account (e-UXRTesting) to my XBOX profile that was previously linked to another Epic Games account (e-UXRBradley) 

I am only capturing the XBOX account flow because I have checked and the Playstation and Nintendo flows are the same. 

Signing into the Epic Games website with XBOX profile that is already connected to the Epic Games account:

• Selecting the "XBOX" logo on the Epic Games sign in screen will pop up a new window for the player to sign in with their Microsoft account
• After going through the Microsoft Sign In flow, the player is signed into the Epic Games website with their XBOX Profile
• There is no indication on the account page that the Sign In happened using the XBOX account as it displays the linked Epic Games account by default
• There are no changes to the Account → Apps and Account page. The assumption then is that no matter which platform account you sign in with, as long as it is connected to the Epic Games account, you will reach the same account information. 

Diablo IV on the XBOX Series S:

• As part of the first-time user flow when the player launches Diablo IV on XBOX, the player chooses which profile should be signed in and then they are brought to a QR code / URL screen.
• There is a pin code on this screen and instructions to either go to https://blizzard.com/link or to scan the QR code using a mobile app. 
• Going to https://blizzard.com/link in a web browser on a separate device, the player is presented with a Battle.Net "Enter Verification Code" page. Here the player enters the pin code from the XBOX screen
• After entering the code, the player is prompted to sign in to their Battle.Net account. 
• Once the player has logged in, it transitions to a "Confirm Connection" page which displays the player's Battle.Net account (bbUXBradley) and XBOX profile (UXBradley) so they can check that these are the correct accounts to link. 
  • It does warn the player at this point that they will NOT be able to connect to a different XBOX network account for 365 days(s).
• Once the player confirms the connection, it transitions to a "You're Connected" page and the player can return to their XBOX
• Upon returning to the XBOX, the screen transitions to a loading animation and then proceeds into the game. Inside the game, the player can see their XBOX profile in the upper right corner of most menu screens but there is no indication of there being accounts linked. 
• Also checked Settings → Connect to see if there was information about the accounts being linked. There is not. 

NOTE Once linked there is no way for the player to unlink accounts from within the game. 

Diablo IV on PC (WINDOWS) through Battle.Net:

• Once the player has launched the game, it takes them through the general first time user set up (accessibility settings, screen safety zone, etc) and then loads into the Main Menu
• Since my XBOX profile and Battle.Net accounts are connected, as soon as I load into the Main Menu, I can see my character from the XBOX profile. 
• There is no information on any screen that tells me that my accounts are linked outside of being able to see my character that I created on XBOX.
• There is also no display of my Battle.Net account name anywhere

NOTE There is no way for the player to unlink accounts from within the game. There is also no way to see that the accounts are linked outside of seeing shared content (in this case, the character pulled over from XBOX) 

Assumption: There is probably also no way to initiate account linking from within the PC (WINDOWS) Battle.Net version of Diablo IV since this uses the Battle.Net account. 

IMPORTANT Linking accounts is not optional and the player will not be able to proceed into the game if they do not complete the account linking step.

I switched to a different set of gaming accounts here so that I don't mess up the linked accounts I still need for other parts of the cross-platform UX Research.

From within the Battle.Net website: 

• Once the player logs into the Battle.Net website, they can go to "Account Settings" and then to "Connections" to see which accounts are linked to their Battle.Net account.
• The accounts that are linked display the platform logo and the player's account name from the associated platform. The button also displays "DISCONNECT" instead of "CONNECT" 
• The player can connect / disconnect accounts from this page

Linking Playstation account:

Linking the XBOX profile (UXTestingPanda) through the Battle.Net website before launching the game for the first time on XBOX:

• After selecting "CONNECT" next to the XBOX network account listing, the player is taken to a "CONNECT AN ACCOUNT" page 
• Selecting "CONTINUE" takes the player to the Microsoft Sign In page
• After completing the Microsoft Sign In flow, the player is returned to the "CONNECT AN ACCOUNT" page where it shows the XBOX profile (UXTestingPanda) they are attempting to link to the Battle.Net account
• Selecting "CONTINUE" either takes the player to a success message or a warning message
• If successful, the player is taken to a "CONNECTION SUCCESSFUL" message with the option to return to the Connections page
• Returning to the Connections page, the player can see the XBOX logo and XBOX Profile (UXTestingPanda) name displayed next to the XBOX network account listing
• Launching the game on the XBOX after these steps skips the QR Code / URL screen and account linking steps

Linking the Playstation account (PSUXTestingPanda) through the Battle.Net website before launching the game for the first time on Playstation:

• After selecting "CONNECT" next to the Playstation Network listing, the player is taken to a "CONNECT AN ACCOUNT" page 
• Selecting "CONTINUE" takes the player to the Playstation sign in page
• After completing the Playstation sign in flow, the player is returned to the "CONNECT AN ACCOUNT" page where it shows the Playstation account (PSUXTestingPanda) they are attempting to link to the Battle.Net account
• Selecting "CONTINUE" either takes the player to a success message or a warning message
• If successful, the player is taken to a "CONNECTION SUCCESSFUL" message with the option to return to the Connections page
• Returning to the Connections page, the player can see their Playstation avatar and account name (PSUXTestingPanda) displayed next to the Playstation Network listing
• Launching the game on the Playstation after these steps skips the QR Code / URL screen and account linking steps

Unlinking Playstation account in Battle.Net website:

Next launch of the game on Playstation:

Unlinking XBOX profile (UXRBradley) from Battle.Net account (bbUXRBradley): 

• When the player goes to unlink the XBOX network account, there is a warning that appears stating "Warning, there will be a 1 year cooldown before you can connect a new XBOX network account" 
• There is a "Account has been disconnected" message that pops up really quick at the top of the page. (Did not manage to capture a screenshot because it vanished so fast)
• The very next time the player launches Diablo IV on the XBOX, the QR / URL screen has returned for the player to link a Battle.Net account

Unlinking Playstation account (PSUXRBradley) from Battle.Net account (bbUXRBradley): 

• When the player goes to unlink the Playstation account, there is a warning that appears stating "Warning, there will be a 1 year cooldown before you can connect a new account for Playstation  Network" 
• There is a "Account has been disconnected" message that pops up really quick at the top of the page
• The very next time the player launches Diablo IV on the Playstation, the QR / URL screen has returned for the player to link a Battle.Net account

Attempting to link a different XBOX profile from within Battle.Net website: 

• After hitting "CONNECT" next to the XBox Network account listing in the Connections page, the player is taken to a "CONNECT TO XBOX NETWORK" page 
• Selecting "CONTINUE" directs the player to a Microsoft Sign In page. 
• After signing in, it returns the player to the Battle.Net website and shows that it sees the XBOX Profile (UXTestingPanda)
• Then it displays what looks like it's supposed to be an error saying that there's a cooldown but this message does not clearly state that the linking has failed.
• Returning to the Connections page shows that the XBOX Profile did not link

Attempting to link a different Playstation account from within Battle.Net website: 

• After hitting "CONNECT" next to the Playstation account listing in the Connections page, the player is taken to a "CONNECT TO PLAYSTATION NETWORK" page 
• Selecting "CONTINUE" directs the player to a Playstation Sign In page
• After signing in, it returns the player to the Battle.Net website and shows that it sees the Playstation account (PSUXTestingPanda)
• Then it displays what looks like it's supposed to be an error saying that there's a cooldown but this message does not clearly state that the linking has failed.
• Returning to the Connections page shows that the Playstation account did not link

IMPORTANT The player can not link to a different platform account from the Battle.Net website after they have unlinked their platform account. 

In a web browser:

Battle.Net → Account Settings → Connections:

On Playstation:

In a web browser:

Battle.Net → Account Settings → Connectons:

Attempting to link to a different Battle.Net account on XBOX:

• Launching Diablo IV on XBOX after I unlinked my XBOX profile (UXRBradley) and my first Battle.Net acount (bbUXRBradley), I get the QR Code / URL screen again
• Going to https://blizzard.com/link in a browser, I am able to log into the second Battle.Net account (bbUXRTesting) and attempt to connect them
• I am able to connect a different Battle.Net account (bbUXRTesting) to my XBOX profile (UXRBradley) through this method. 

Attempting to link to a different Battle.Net account on Playstation:

• Launching Diablo IV on XBOX after I unlinked my Playstation account (PS-UXRBradley) and my first Battle.Net acount (bbUXRBradley), I get the QR Code / URL screen again
• Going to https://blizzard.com/link in a browser, I am able to log into the second Battle.Net account (bbUXRTesting) and attempt to connect them
• I am able to connect a different Battle.Net account (bbUXRTesting) to my Playstation account (PS-UXRBradley) through this method. 

Main Menu → Social → SHiFT (first visit): 

Borderlands 3 on XBOX:

• After launch and sign in, there is a window that pops up called "Welcome to SHiFT" 
• It lets the player know that they have to create a "SHiFT" display name as matchmaking is done through this feature
• After setting a Cross-Play SHiFT display name (s-UXBradley) it takes the player to the Main Menu
• This does not seem to be for linking accounts, but rather for supporting cross platform matchmaking 
• Going into Main Menu → Social → SHiFT for the first time brings up more user agreements
• There seems to be Account Linking instructions here

Clicking on "Gaming Platforms":

Returning to XBOX:

Linking XBOX profile (UXBradley) to SHiFT account (s-UXBradley):

• Going to Main Menu → Social → SHiFT, the glitch seems to have stopped after closing and relaunching the game. 
• In the "Account" tab there's a section that says "LINK ACCOUNT" which instructs the player to go to http://bl3.gbx.live/ 
• In a browser, going to http://bl3.gbx.live/ redirects the player to SHiFT (gearboxsoftware.com)
• I created a SHiFT account (s-UXBradley)
• After signing in to the SHiFT account, it takes the player to the "Activate Your Device" screen for them to enter the pin code from the XBOX screen
• The player is then presented with a "Activated Device" screen and success message
• There is no obvious exit from the success page
• Clicking on the SHiFT logo takes the player to the Profile section. If the player goes from Profile to "Gaming Platforms" they can see the linked accounts
• Returning to XBOX, the SHiFT screen has now changed from having two tabs (Account, Acount Details) to having three tabs (SHiFT Code, Reward History, Account Details) 
• Once the account is linked it doesn't look like there's a way to unlink the accounts from within the game

Clicking on SHiFT Logo → "Gaming Platforms":

Returning to Playstation:

Linking Playstation account (PS-UXBradley) to SHiFT account (s-UXBradley):

• Going to Main Menu → Social → SHiFT after paying for Playstation Plus brings up the user agreements 
• In the "Account" tab there's a section that says "LINK ACCOUNT" which instructs the player to go to http://bl3.gbx.live/ 
• In a browser, going to http://bl3.gbx.live/ redirects the player to SHiFT (gearboxsoftware.com)
• After signing in to the SHiFT account, it takes the player to the "Activate Your Device" screen for them to enter the pin code from the Playstation screen
• The player is then presented with a "Activated Device" screen and success message
• There is no obvious exit from the success page
• Clicking on the SHiFT logo takes the player to the Profile section. If the player goes from Profile to "Gaming Platforms" they can see the linked accounts
• Returning to Playstation, the SHiFT screen has now changed from having two tabs (Account, Acount Details) to having three tabs (SHiFT Code, Reward History, Account Details) 
• Looking at the Account Details tab, the player can see their SHiFT account name (s-UXBradley)
• Once the account is linked it doesn't look like there's a way to unlink the accounts from within the game

Borderlands 3 on PC (WINDOWS) STEAM: 

• After launch and sign in, there is a window that pops up called "Welcome to SHiFT" 
• It lets the player know that they have to create a "SHiFT" display name as matchmaking is done through this feature
• After setting a Cross-Play SHiFT display name (sPS-UXBradley) it takes the player to the Main Menu
• This does not seem to be for linking accounts, but rather for supporting cross platform matchmaking
• Going into Main Menu → Social → SHiFT for the first time brings up more user agreements
• There seems to be Account Linking instructions here

In a web browser:

Returning to STEAM:

Accounts Linked

At this point in the research:

• I have a XBOX profile (UXBradley)
• I have a Playstation account (PS-UXBradley)
• I have a STEAM account (st-UXBradley)
• I have a SHiFT account (s-UXBradley)
• All accounts have been linked through the platform account linking flow

From within the gearbox website: 

• Outside of the link provided through the platform account linking flow, the player can go to https://shift.gearboxsoftware.com to look at their linked accounts
• After logging into their SHiFT account, the player can go to "Gaming Platforms" to see which accounts are linked and to link or unlink them

Unlinking accounts

At this point in the research:

• I have a XBOX profile (UXBradley)
• I have a Playstation account (PS-UXBradley)
• I have a STEAM account (st-UXBradley)
• I have a SHiFT account (s-UXBradley)
• All accounts have been linked through the platform account linking flow

Unlinking accounts from within gearbox website:

• As soon as the player clicks the "UNLINK" button, the page reloads and the account is immediately unlinked. There is no other message or confirmation or anything.
• Once the account is unlinked, the button turns into a "Sign in" button instead

In the web browser:

Attempting to link a different SHiFT account to platform account through account linking flow within the game:

• Once the player gets past the SHiFT screens and Main Menu, to go to the Main Menu → Social → SHiFT screen, they are able to generate a pin code and go to the URL shown in the instructions on this screen
• In a web browser, the player goes to http://bl3.gbx.live/ and logs in to the SHiFT account they wish to link
• After entering the pin code from the XBOX screen the page transitions to the "Activated Device" message 

NOTE The player is able to link their platform account to another SHiFT account. There doesn't seem to be any limitations enforced here. 

Playstation account linking:

STEAM account linking:

Launching Borderlands 3 for the first time after platform account is already linked through gearbox website

Launching Borderlands 3 for the first time as XBOX profile UXRBradley, newly linked to SHiFT account s-UXBradley through the gearbox webiste:

• Even though the XBOX profile and SHiFT account are linked, it still shows the first two SHiFT screens upon launching Borderlands 3
• When the SHiFT display name step comes up though, it's already displaying the SHiFT account name (s-UXBradley) instead of suggesting the player's platform account name as the SHiFT display name
• Going from Main Menu → Social → SHiFT, it's already displaying the three tabs (SHiFT Code, Reward History, Account Details) instead of the two (Account, Account Details) that are normally shown before accounts are linked. 

Screenshots from 23 Nov 2023 

On XBOX Series S: 

On Playstation 5:

On PC (WINDOWS) Epic Launcher:

On PC (WINDOWS) STEAM:

Upon first launch on every platform:

• After the title screen, the player is presented with a CrossSave message
• There is a QR Code and a URL on this message, directing players to go to the URL http://bungie.net/CrossSave 
• This message appears at the same point of the flow on every platform

NOTE There is no account linking that happens within the game in any platform. Players are directed to visit a website in web browser outside of the platform. 

Signing into the bungie.net/CrossSave website: 

• The bungie.net/CrossSave website lands the player on a page that explains the benefits of linking their platform accounts
• Selecting " GET STARTED" sends the player to a page where they have to select one of their platforms to begin the account linkng progress

Linking XBOX as the first platform:

• Selecting "XBOX" from the platform selection page brings up a new window with the Microsoft Sign In page
• After completing the sign in process, the player is able to create a bungie.net account if they do not already have one
• Upon finishing the creation of the bungie.net account, the pop up window closes and the player is redirected to a user agreement page
• After the user agreement page, the player is brought to a "Authenticate to Cross Save" page where they are able to see which platforms have been authenticated and to link other accounts 

PC (WINDOWS) Epic Launcher:

iOS (Apple):

Android:

Log Out: