Out of nowhere, Sony announced earlier this morning that Fortnite will be getting full, extended cross platform play. That is, cross platform play with Nintendo Switch and Xbox One, in addition to PC, iOS, and Android, going back on months of rhetoric about how they weren’t interested in doing anything like that.

This is wonderful news, and for the first time in history, all gaming systems on the market are united behind one game, as one consolidated, unified player base. It’s historic. However, it’s also a logistical nightmare. Upon realizing that their PS4 Fortnite accounts couldn’t work on Switch, many players ended up in many cases making new accounts (such as what I did). For those players, Epic has announced that they will be introducing an account merge feature in November, so you can consolidate your progress and purchases across multiple accounts on one.

The other news is, account linking and unlinking with PSN, Xbox Live, or Nintendo Online, is currently suspended. Epic promises to introduce this feature so you can unlink and relink your accounts to your hearts’ content “soon”.

Fortnite, the great unifying force of our time, is available on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, iOS, Android, and PC. 

The truth of the matter is – and I will say this here without mincing words, or paying lip service to the idea of diplomacy – Sony is in the wrong here, plain and simple. Its entire stance on cross platform play is backwards, archaic, regressive, holding the industry back, and it is also hypocritical, for good measure.

Let’s start with the basics- cross platform play lets you play games with people on different platforms. This means that if you own Rocket League on PC, but your friend has it on Xbox, neither of you needs to rebuy it for a different system a second time- you can play together nonetheless. Cross platform play encompasses random matchmaking, as well as playing with friends, is usually hugely secure thanks to the stringent demands of all the different companies involved, and most of all, is optional– so if someone would, for whatever reason, rather not play with players outside of the ecosystem of their own system (I don’t get why someone would feel this way, but let’s entertain the thought and go with it), they can turn it off and move on with their lives. No one loses with cross platform play.

"Sony is in the wrong here, plain and simple. Its entire stance on cross platform play is backwards, archaic, regressive, holding the industry back, and it is also hypocritical, for good measure."

It’s a pro-consumer, pro-player move, as well as a progressive step towards the future of the industry. As we move towards an industry that is dominated by multiplatform games, platform agnostic middleware and services, and games themselves turning into services, cross platform play is the logical culmination. Sony, of course, themselves understand this- not only have they been championing the cause for a very long time now, but they even pioneered it this generation with games like Rocket League to begin with.

So, of course, it is baffling, the about turn they have made on the issue in recent times. For the longest time, we were told, we were led to believe, that Sony was all for cross platform play- that, in fact, it would welcome it, but Microsoft, of course, would never allow it. And to be fair, Microsoft did not allow it for the longest time (and they were in the wrong then). They only came about to allowing it last year, finally responding to the longstanding offer, and telling Sony that yes, yes, they will let PSN and Xbox Live players interact.

Sony’s response was radio silence. Multiple developers after that, including for games such as Tekken 7, Rocket League, and Gwent, told us that the ball was in Sony’s court, and they were dragging their feet. But with the PS4 and Xbox One being the only viable consoles on the market back then, it looked like an impasse- Xbox wanted full cross platform play, PlayStation didn’t. Stalemate.

That changed at E3 this year when Minecraft and Rocket League both confirmed that Switch would be joining the full cross platform play, leaving PlayStation as the odd man out. This announcement was honestly shocking- for Nintendo, a company famously averse and regressive when it comes to all things online, as well as a company demanding full control of the experience on its hardware, to allow cross platform play was big. Nintendo being on board meant that the momentum was decidedly on the pro-cross platform play side. And if Nintendo could be on board, Sony – the original champion of cross platform play, a company ‘#4ThePlayers’, had no reason to be flaking out. No excuse was acceptable.

"If Nintendo could be on board, Sony – the original champion of cross platform play, a company ‘#4ThePlayers’, had no reason to be flaking out. No excuse was acceptable."

Sony’s own official excuse, which stated that it was looking out ‘for the children’ among its install base, exacerbated matters. If Nintendo could be on board – and Nintendo is the company that has consistently hamstrung its own online functionality to keep it kid friendly – then Sony had no leg to stand on (especially since they do allow cross platform play with PC, which is the least kid friendly platform there is). A while later, it was revealed that Minecraft would need Xbox Live to achieve cross platform functionality on all platforms, even the Switch- which at least explains why Sony would say no to that. But games like Rocket League use platform and service agnostic backends to achieve this- so Sony, again, had and have no excuse for their larger stance on cross platform play.

Here is the true explanation according to me- Sony is in the lead. It does not want to cede that advantage of the larger install base by opening up cross platform play to Xbox and Nintendo, both of which put together are not equal to PlayStation’s install base yet. That is their reason. Cross platform play was for them a talking point, a way to portray themselves as being ‘for the gamer’; but it was not something they were willing to follow up on, and they have not. They are acting in their best interests- not in their consumers’. This is not a ‘#4TheGamers’ move, it is a move made in their own self interests.

And no, Sony fans should not accept this or defend this as they are not a Sony stakeholder nor employed by or working for Sony. As a consumer, they need to be asking Sony why it is consciously making decisions that will lead to inferior experiences for them. You can understand Sony’s business reasoning for doing what they are doing – I do – without being okay with it – I am not. Sony is apparently the company that does listen to fan feedback. One day in the future, all players of GTA: Online or Destiny could be playing together- but for that to happen, cross platform play needs to be a thing, and it is not being a thing because Sony is not allowing it.

"And no, Sony fans should not accept this or defend this as they are not a Sony stakeholder nor employed by or working for Sony. As a consumer, they need to be asking Sony why it is consciously making decisions that will lead to inferior experiences for them."

This is, ultimately, the latest in a long line of anti consumer moves Sony has made this generation. Inexplicable price raises for PS Plus. Not allowing mods on their system without considerable scalebacks. The omission of functionality in their ‘pro’ hardware. Their entire laughable stance towards backwards compatibility. Sony may say it is for the gamer, but it is no longer acting like it.

Meanwhile, Sony can continue to keep PlayStation an island, and keep having even a company like Nintendo make it look backwards in comparison in the online field. The rest of the world is moving towards a connected future, and Sony is getting left behind.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to GamingBolt as an organization.

True cross platform play is a big, major deal- and we have already seen Microsoft, Nintendo, and PC all jump in by allowing full cross platform play across the Xbox, Switch, and PC for games like Minecraft and Rocket League. The last holdout is Sony, who will allow PS4 to play with PC, but not with Xbox or Switch.

When asked for a reason, Sony’s Jim Ryan said that this was to protect children from unsavory elements on other platforms– which was not only a ridiculous sentiment to begin with (as if there are no unsavory elements on PSN), but also made no sense since Sony already allows cross platform play with PC, which is the most unmoderated platform there is.

Rocket League developers Psyonix seem to agree with that sentiment. Speaking to VentureBeat, Psyonix’s Jeremy Dunham said, “I understand that stance. We want to take care of our players. But from our perspective, if PlayStation already allows cross-network with PC, which is the least regulated of any of the partners, then in theory, having Xbox and Switch in there should be fine. They’re a lot more regulated. From our perspective that concern is already handled. That’s taken care of. Our dream is that true cross-network play — we want it on all the platforms. It’s very important to us, for multiple reasons. One, you can have faster matchmaking. The bigger the pool, the faster the matchmaking. It benefits everybody. Two, you get better quality opponents. In a bigger pool you have better people who are closer to your location.”

I agree with him, word for word. Nothing about Sony’s stance makes any sense. This is making them look very bad, and I hope they come around soon. Rocket League is available on PS4, Xbox One, PC, with a Nintendo Switch version coming this Holiday.

Sony’s backwards policies when it comes to cross platform play have been revealed over this week, as first Minecraft, and then Rocket League– and both substantially major games- have been announced to be getting full cross platform play between their PC, Xbox, and Switch versions, but the PS4 being excluded.

This happens because Sony won’t allow for cross platform play whatsoever, despite originally championing it, when it was clear Microsoft would never allow for it. In an interview with Sony’s Jim Ryan, Eurogamer decided to ask just exactly what is up with this frankly inexplicable and anti consumer move.

“We’ve got to be mindful of our responsibility to our install base. Minecraft – the demographic playing that, you know as well as I do, it’s all ages but it’s also very young,” Ryan said. “We have a contract with the people who go online with us, that we look after them and they are within the PlayStation curated universe. Exposing what in many cases are children to external influences we have no ability to manage or look after, it’s something we have to think about very carefully.”

When Eurogamer pointed out that Nintendo, a company even more protective of its users, especially younger ones, and of its ‘curated ecosystems’, is on board with cross platform play, Ryan had no answer, saying only, “Yeah, that’s true. Everybody has to take their own decisions. We’ll do that. Like I say, we have no philosophical stance against cross-play at all.”

So is there a chance that this might happen any time soon? According to Ryan, it does not seem to be on the table currently. “: I don’t think anything is ever a done deal. Anybody who is dogmatic in that manner is typically a fool. That said, to my knowledge, there is no live conversation ongoing at the moment.”

So basically, don’t expect cross platform play with PS4 any time soon. It doesn’t seem like Sony is about to budge from their stance anytime soon. This is indefensible.

Sony is not playing nice when it comes to cross platform multiplayer. We have been hearing from developers about them not allowing full cross platform multiplayer online for a year now, and things came to a head on Sunday, when Mojang announced that Minecraft will allow for full cross platform play across every single platform that the game is on- except for PlayStation. Even Xbox and Switch players will be able to play with each other, but PS4 is left out, because Sony won’t agree to it.

And now, another game has joined the list. Rocket League will be coming to the Nintendo Switch this Holiday season, as was announced, and it will have cross platform multiplayer- with PC and with Xbox One, but not with PS4.

This is not reflecting well on Sony at all- if even a company as backwards about online as Nintendo is willing to play nice with cross platform multiplayer, then Sony has no excuse, and it needs to step up.

Rocket League is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, with a Nintendo Switch version coming later this year.