Quick Answer
Machine Party has no in-game voice chat and no in-game text chat. The Steam store page does not list either feature, the store category list does not include either, and no official announcement has mentioned adding them.
So how do players actually talk to each other?
- For most groups: external voice or text chat — Discord, Steam Voice, anything the group agrees on.
- If you can be in the same room: the v2.0 update on August 12, 2026 (UTC) added couch co-op for up to four players on one PC. If everyone's in the same room, you don't need voice chat at all.
- If you want in-game voice specifically: there's a community mod (MachineParty+) that adds it. It only works between modded players, and it has the usual mod risks.
The official LFG Discord server is the developers' recommended way to coordinate with strangers — that's the substitute for the in-game matchmaking they have said they won't add.
The No-In-Game-Voice Reality
A few facts about the gap:
- Store page features: The Steam "About This Game" section lists five features. None of them is voice or text chat.
- Store category list: does not include any communication-related category.
- All eight official announcements since April 2026: have covered gameplay features (Original / Arcade modes, couch co-op, balance changes, sales milestones). None has announced voice or text chat.
This is a recurring player complaint — Steam reviews include lines like "needs matchmaking and VOIP badly" — but the developers have not addressed it in any announcement. There is no public timeline for adding voice chat.
How Players Actually Talk
In online matches, the practical answer is external voice chat. The most common choices:
- Discord — what the official LFG server runs on. Most groups default to it.
- Steam Voice — built into Steam itself; works without any third-party install.
- Any other voice service the group already uses.
The official LFG Discord has voice channels for coordination. Find it on the Discord page.
The Couch Co-op Shortcut
If your group can be in the same physical room, the voice chat problem doesn't apply — you're just talking to each other. The v2.0 update on August 12, 2026 (UTC) made this practical: up to four players on one PC with controllers, no need for any chat system.
For how to set that up, see the local co-op page.
The Mod Option
One community mod adds in-game voice and text chat: MachineParty+ (MP+), by Ghostx10742, built on top of the Machine Party Mod Loader by Krunk-theduck. It works, with caveats:
- Voice and text only work between players who both have the mod installed. Vanilla players can't see or hear them.
- Installing MP+ breaks Steam's in-game Invite button. You have to share the 18-digit room code manually.
- Game updates can break the loader, which breaks MP+. The project's own README says: "a future Machine Party update can temporarily break the loader (and with it, this mod). If that happens, don't panic and don't keep reinstalling. Wait until the mod loader pushes an update that fixes it."
For the full MP+ write-up — what it adds, who it works with, the limits — see the multiplayer mod page. For the broader mod ecosystem and risks, see the mods page.
Will This Change?
Nobody outside the studio can tell you. The honest summary:
- There is no public timeline for adding in-game voice or text chat.
- The developers have not said it's coming.
- The developers have not said it isn't coming.
- The community keeps asking, and the developers have responded by pointing players to the Discord server as the substitute for both matchmaking and chat.
If the developers announce voice or text chat at any point, this page and the Discord / multiplayer mod pages will be updated together.