While Xbox One and Nintendo Switch owners have enjoy cross-play compatibility with Fortnite for sometime, many a PlayStation 4 owner was left asking why they couldn’t join in the fun. They would enter their profile details on a console other than the PlayStation 4 and all their accrued account items would simply not appear. Even access to the menus was prohibited. Sony’s weak PR approach was to insist to everybody that “we believe the PlayStation 4 is the best place to play Fortnite” which, when you think about it, doesn’t really make any sense.
The fact that Sony has finally acquiesced to the resulting uproar is a really big deal on multiple levels. Not only does it mean that Fortnite is the first videogame to not only become available on every modern device with a screen, it’s now the first to achieve cross-play compatibility across the board. As far as Sony is concerned, the move represents “a major policy change for Sony Interactive Entertainment”. In other words, they have experienced humility.
While the heated discussion originates mostly from Micecraft, which has offered similar cross-play technology to its players, the most recent slap in the face for Sony came in the form of a veiled ultimatum from Bethesda when discussing its upcoming card game, Elder Scrolls: Legends. Going for a strong cross-play community, Vice President Pete Hines stated “We cannot have a game that works everywhere else, except for on this one thing”. With a strong allusion to the fact that Bethesda would just refuse to release Legends on PlayStation 4, a card game spin-off title was not exactly a major contender for Sony to be worried about. However, a stern telling off from such a major player as Bethesda, it would seem, has been reason enough for Sony to have reconsidered their way.
As of right now, Sony has officially begun a beta phase for Fortnite’s newfound cross-play compatibility with its console brethren.
