Cross-platform play coming to PS4, starting with Fortnite
Sony has finally stopped fighting the future: A beta for cross-platform play, including support for Fortnite, launches today.
“The first step will be an open beta beginning today for Fortnite that will allow for cross platform gameplay, progression and commerce across PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Mac operating systems,” PlayStation president and global CEO John Kodera wrote on the PlayStation Blog. “We see the beta as an opportunity to conduct thorough testing that ensures cross-platform play is best on PlayStation, while being mindful about the user experience from both a technical and social perspective.”
This is a major reversal of its longstanding policy of keeping PlayStation fans segregated from the rest of the industry, after arguing that cross-platform play might even be unsafe. Others in the industry had argued that the policy was due to monetary concerns. Many publishers, including Bethesda, had been pressuring Sony to make this change, and developers such as Psyonix have already spoken openly about how easy the change would be to implement from their end.
This is industry shaking news. With this breakthrough, cross-platform play will become a new norm.
Not to belabor the “console wars”, but I suspect this will encourage deeper investment in first-party exclusives (Nintendo’s game) leading to more studio acquisitions (Microsoft’s new game), as well as bigger deals for third-party exclusives (Sony’s game, traditionally).