During the Nintendo Direct E3 2018 presentation, Fortnite players everywhere rejoiced when it was announced that the battle royale game would be coming to the Nintendo Switch. It is already available on the PC, Xbox One, Android, iOS and the PS4. The excitement felt by players were cut short when it turned out that users were blocked from logging in on the Switch if they previously played on the PS4, and vice versa. Now Xbox and Nintendo have voiced out their disagreements with Sony’s handling of cross-platform games.
Sony Cross-Platform Fortnite: Xbox’s Response
In an interview with Giant Bomb, Xbox head Phil Spencer said: “If you bought your son, your child, an Xbox, and I bought my child a PlayStation – and I’m just a parent, it’s their birthday, whatever – and the kids want to go play Fortnite and they all of a sudden go home and can’t play with each other… it doesn’t feel like it helps the consumers. If it doesn’t help the developers and it doesn’t help the consumer, then it doesn’t feel like it helps to grow gaming to me.”
Sony actually commented on the issue very recently. However, the company’s official statement on the matter was evasive, to say the least. In its statement to the BBC, Sony only reiterated that it allows cross-platform play with PC and mobile for Fortnite players but it did not address the reason why cross-platform play with the Xbox and Switch were blocked.
Sony Cross-Platform Fortnite: Nintendo’s Response
Nintendo of America’s Reggie Fils-Aime discussed the same issue with Polygon recently. He said: “You have companies like mine that encourage cross-play and enable cross-play. You have a developer and content owner that wants cross-play and is encouraging cross-play, and then you have the other platform holders and what it is that they do.”
That’s clearly a dig at Sony’s stance on cross-platform play for games like Fortnite, Rocket League and more. Sony is the only company who has refused cross-platform gaming. We reported earlier in March that according to Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, the future of the games industry will be “one in which barriers between platforms will no longer exist,” in which cross-platform play is the next logical step.
