Fortnite Cross-Play Finally Coming To PS4 With Extended Beta

Written by Brandon Hofer on September 26, 2018

News: Sony has finally changed course and decided to allow their customers to play with people on other platforms in Fortnite.

In recent times one of the hot topics in the gaming industry has been cross-play and the fact that Sony wasn’t playing well with others. It became a really big issue with Fortnite and how if you started your Fortnite “career” on PS4 then you were stuck there permanently...you couldn’t even transfer your character over to another ecosystem. That wasn’t a problem anywhere else though which is part of what was frustrating. If you started playing on Xbox you could transfer over to the Switch and play there or transfer over to the PC and play there. Gamers have repeatedly asked for the ability to play with their friends that are on other systems and, finally, it appears that Sony might be listening.

Sony just put up a post on the PlayStation Blog about an “extended” Fortnite cross-play beta that is launching on the PlayStation 4 today. Sony stated that after a “comprehensive evaluation process” they have discovered a way to support cross-platform features for select third-party content. This beta will be open to anyone and will allow for cross-platform gameplay, progression, and commerce across PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac.

Sony finished up the blog post by stating the following:

”For 24 years, we have strived to deliver the best gaming experience to our fans by providing a uniquely PlayStation perspective. Today, the communities around some games have evolved to the point where cross-platform experiences add significant value to players. In recognition of this, we have completed a thorough analysis of the business mechanics required to ensure that the PlayStation experience for our users remains intact today, and in the future, as we look to open up the platform.

This represents a major policy change for SIE, and we are now in the planning process across the organization to support this change. We will update the community once we have more details to share, including more specifics regarding the beta timeframe, and what this means for other titles going forward.”

It is a great thing that Sony is finally listening to gamers. At least in Fortnite, now you will be able to play with and/or against your friends, regardless of which platform they play on. Hopefully, this “extended” beta doesn’t last too long and this feature can be implemented in other titles as well.

With Sony now changing course on cross-play functionality, can we please now be allowed to change our PSN names?

source: PlayStation Blog