Fortnite knocks down the PlayStation wall to open the door to cross-play with other platforms

Over the past year, Sony has been repeatedly criticized for not allowing cross-play on PS4. While people on other platforms such as Xbox One and Nintendo Switch can already play together, PS4 players can only play with each other or with PC players only.

It seems that the reactions and requests from fans have forced Sony to change its mind. Most recently, the company announced that PS4 will have limited cross-play support. Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO John Kodera explained, “SIE has determined the path to cross-platform support for select third parties.”

The first game to support cross-play is Fortnite. Starting September 26, Fortnite players will be able to participate in the cross-play open beta that “enables cross-platform play on a large scale on PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Mac.” Kodera says this will allow Sony to “extremely test” the feature.

Fortnite seems like the smart choice for cross-play testing. Not only does the game have more than 100 million players, meaning many will participate in this open beta, but Fortnite has always been at the center of cross-play controversy. When Fortnite launched on Nintendo Switch earlier, fans were furious to learn that Epic Games accounts wouldn’t work on Switch if they were playing on PS4. This, along with the lack of cross-play between the two systems has made the community heavily condemned.

While this is seen as a huge win for players, we need to note that they are not fully unlocked yet. Kodera says cross-play support means a “major policy change” for the company, and that SIE “is contemplating planning for the organization to support this change.” That means we will have more new details about cross-play beta Fortnite and cross-play on other games.

Many game developers are waiting for this feature, including Rocket League creator Psyonix and Bethesda The Elder Scrolls, both of which openly support cross-play and called for Sony to change. However, there are probably still a few more steps before these developers officially support PS4 so fans will have to wait a bit longer.

According to PlayStation Blog