In a “major policy change,” Sony is allowing cross-platform play for Fortnite on Playstation 4. Before today, Sony was adamant that there would be no crossplay on any of their games, because of the Japanese company’s belief that Playstation 4 is the best platform to play games. As noted in a post on GamesIndustry.biz, Sony will start by allowing Playstation 4 Fortnite users to play against players on other platforms in an “open beta.”
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) president and global CEO John Kodera made the Fortnite announcement on the Playstation blog.
“Following a comprehensive evaluation process, SIE has identified a path toward supporting cross-platform features for select third party content. We recognize that PS4 players have been eagerly awaiting an update, and we appreciate the community’s continued patience as we have navigated through this issue to find a solution. 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.”
PS4 gamers have requested cross-platform play on other games too, including Ark: Survival Evolved and Rocket League, games that have cross-platform play on other platforms. Microsoft and Nintendo allow cross-platform play on Minecraft on Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch. Sony has experienced pressure form their PS4 gaming community as well as third-party companies to allow crossplay and today is the day that Sony finally caved.
Kodera’s statement today is part of Sony’s effort to “open up the platform,” a platform that once believed that being a closed ecosystem was the best scenario for its users. Kodera added that this change represents a huge policy shift for Sony.
“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.”
Stay tuned to see what other games Sony plans to open up for crossplay.
