10 key features for multiplayer collaboration tools and software

Multiplayer collaboration features have become increasingly popular and essential in productivity software due to the rise of distributed teams and remote working. Realtime updates, live playback, presence and status, and data integrity are the four fundamental characteristics of multiplayer collaboration. These features improve retention and engagement, reduce context switching, make your tool central to customer workflows, and break silos within organizations. Key features needed for a collaborative user experience include a shared space, authentication, user avatars, live location, live cursors, typing indicators, field locking, live updates, live comments, and support for large numbers of concurrent users. Examples of successful multiplayer collaboration tools are Figma, Webflow, and Miro. Adding multiplayer collaboration to existing apps can be challenging but using a realtime Platform as a Service (PaaS) like Ably can help developers build scalable and dependable realtime applications.