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Sony Is Blocking Fortnite Cross-Play Between PS4, Nintendo Switch Players (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the not-on-my-watch dept.

Earlier today, Nintendo announced during its E3 press conference that Epic Games' Fortnite would be coming to the Switch console. Unfortunately, when Epic Games PR representative Nick Chester confirmed cross-play compatibility, the PS4 wasn't on the list. The Switch version of Fortnite will only support cross-play with Xbox One, PC, Mac, and mobile. The Verge reports: That aligns with past cross-play implementations between Xbox One, PS4, PC, and mobile, with Sony blocking other console platforms from playing with its own. You can cross-play between PS4, mobile, and PC. Unfortunately, this also suggests that PS4 players of Fortnite won't be able to log in to their Epic accounts on the Switch, meaning you won't be able to have any weekly progress carry over or gain access to any of your skins or emotes. This is because your Epic account is tied up with your PSN username in most cases. For instance, you can't log in to an Epic account tied to PSN on the Xbox One version of Fortnite, and it sounds like the same will be true for the Switch.

44 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Can I still eat chicken nuggets while I play?

    1. Re:But by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      Not unless you buy them from an official PS4 chicken nugget store.

  2. Who even wants this stuff by Zaelath · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'd have thought if you were on a console blocking PC players from joining would be welcomed...?

    1. Re:Who even wants this stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      FYI: This is not about mixing PS4 vs Switch on the same server. It's about once you've ever played on PS4, then Sony is making it impossible to ever use the same Fortnight account to play on Switch.

    2. Re:Who even wants this stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Precisely. All of the other games that have allowed PC players in with consoles have been riddled with cheaters, even MS's own Sea of Thieves... I'm glad they're kept out on PS4

    3. Re:Who even wants this stuff by renegadesx · · Score: 1

      Yes thats not crossplay, that is something much worse.

      --
      Make SELinux enforcing again!
    4. Re:Who even wants this stuff by locopuyo · · Score: 1

      You can team up with your friends playing on another system.

      --
      The Official Site of 1337 Pwnage
    5. Re:Who even wants this stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      >They aren't cheaters

      How do you know? PUBG is filled to the brim with cheaters, BlueHole can't keep up with the slew of new cheats that come out for the game, both on console and PC. Hell, there are even a couple of major streamers who use cheats and people still eat that stuff up. But folks like you constantly drone in the background: "Git gud!"

    6. Re:Who even wants this stuff by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      I'd have thought if you were on a console blocking PC players from joining would be welcomed...?

      Except in battle royale games, which require a massive number of players (most start with 100 players). Having players from different consoles and platforms means a bigger pool of players to begin with.

      And I believe with this type of game, with rounds being really quick, advantages of platforms gets minimized.

      I suspect Epic will quickly offer an option to unlink their PS4 account from their Epic account.

    7. Re:Who even wants this stuff by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Your PC Master Race bias towards mice doesn't apply in this instance since Fortnite on PS4 has Keyboard and Mouse support.

      That said, keyboards are horrible devices for movement control, being digital and not analog.

      What works VERY well is to move with an analog stick but aim with a mouse.

    8. Re:Who even wants this stuff by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      There are game genres other than FPS's and Fortnite isn't an FPS. Save The World is a sandbox Tower-defense/RPG/third person PVE shooter hybrid and Battle Royale is a Third person shooter.

      And to be sure, not every FPS is an unrealistic bunny-hopping-shoot-rockets-at-your-feet twitchfest. I'm also old enough to remember the early FPS players referring to the mouse-aiming in Quake as "easy-mode for gamer-come-lately-frat-boys"

      I liked having the mouse-aim option with Quake II on the PSone. In fact I prefer hybrid controls.

      But I didn't mind not having mouse-aim in SOCOM on the PS2, a more slower, realistic, tactical shooter.

      But I wanted mouse support with Timesplitters which was faster paced.

      With the PS2 version of Half-Life, both worked well, but with Deus Ex I preferred hybrid control with mouse-aim.

      With Dust512. I preferred hybrid controls, but that messed up vehicle controls which worked best with gamepad alone.

      Go buy a gaming PC and play with a keyboard and mouse.

      Don't need a Windows gaming PC to play with keyboard and mouse. Playstation games are more likely than those on other platforms to have that as an option as I mentioned above.

    9. Re:Who even wants this stuff by Ksevio · · Score: 1

      IIRC it's the other way around - Console players can join PC matches (if they want to play with friends on PC or something) but PC players can't join console matches (because they'd slaughter everyone). Problem is PS4 players can't play with XBox players so the PS4 players can't play with anyone that could also play with Xbox

    10. Re:Who even wants this stuff by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      It some ways it is a good plan.
      Consoles and PCs with different system requirements, available controllers and degrees of hackability means a rather unfair game especially where it is twitch type of game where reflexes are key.
      Keyboard PC Gamer get high precision, and a lot of options with the key presses, but it may not be as fast as with an analog control for such a game, having distant sniping being an advantage, vs. perhaps faster close range combat on a console.

      The switch which is meant to play on a tiny screen, compared to normal console which are on big screens, or medium screens on a PC, brings in other game balance questions.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    11. Re:Who even wants this stuff by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      The ONLY genres in which a keyboard and mouse isn't preferred over a gamepad is 2D platformers and racing games.

      3D platformers? Action-RPG's? Flight Sims? Fighting games? Musou games?

      Really? You actually said to yourself "Gee, I really like have a cumbersome and imprecise controller for this game."?

      I literally said "didn't mind". SOCOM's a slow paced stealth-centric shooter (in singleplayer), it is NOT Team Fortress. In general the slower and more methodical you are in SOCOM, the better your missions and mission rating will go. SOCOM, at least in the early games, tend to more realism. Your stealth, movement, and aiming ability depend on how much you are carrying. You slap a grenade launcher on your M4 and you slow down and become more noisy. Because of this, the gameplay isn't like TF, or Unreal Tournament or whatever brown-shooter-of-the-week PC guys drool over.

      Only if the game supports them. On PC that's almost all games. On console, it's almost none.

      "Almost none" is an exaggeration. I've got PSone, PS2, PS3, and PS4 games within 10 feet of me that have mouse support.

    12. Re:Who even wants this stuff by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Maybe go learn how to read before you try to post next time.

      Hey Coward, we're you born a sociopathic asshole or was it learned? The STORY is about Fortnite, not PUBG, I was more on-topic than the people talking about PUBG are.

    13. Re:Who even wants this stuff by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      This is true for steering only. Not for moving a character.

      Fortnite BR (and other console games) implement ways in which movement affects stealth. In Fortnite BR the faster you move the louder you are. You don't always want to move at full speed in Fortnite BR. Analog control lets you vary your movement speed on a continuum.

      Good luck trying to get a modern console to work with console accessories from 15+ years ago.

      While you can't use PSone, PS2 or PS3 DualShocks with the PS4, you wouldn't want to, the PS4 DualShock is superior. The lack of the classic playstation controller port on the PS3 is only a problem if you wanted to use the PSone mouse with say Quake II or C&C Red Alert. Or if you wanted to use the PSone Analog joystick (the one that sort of looks like a HOTAS) with Colony wars or Mechwarrior 2.

      However most USB PS2/PS3 accessories should work on a PS3 and most PS2/PS3 USB accessories should work on a PS4. Headsets, mics (your old singstar/karaoke revolution mics), wheels, the Hori Flight Stick 3 (the one that looks like a Saitek x45), the Eyetoy. Yes, the PS2 eyetoy works with the PS4, it can't replace the PS4 camera in things like Playroom, but there are games that can use it.

      But Good luck getting your modern PC to work with your old pre-USB "gameport" controllers/joystick. Hopefully the drivers come on CD instead of floppy....if they even work on Win10.

    14. Re:Who even wants this stuff by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      If you're talking about any kind of competitive game you'll never need to move any slower than running.

      Never play a game that implements how movement affects noise and stealth? Well Fortnite BR is a competitive game where you DON'T want to run all the time because the faster you move, the more noise you make.

    15. Re:Who even wants this stuff by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      So let's put it to the test, shall we? I challenge you to a deathmatch with me on keyboard and mouse and your on gamepad.

      You seem to be under the impression that I'm anti-mouse, didn't you read that I prefer hybrid controls in games that support it. Meaning Analog stick + mouse. And Deathmatch? There's more to gaming than shooters you know. And if we were to play against each other it would have to be a cross-platform game that supports multiple control schemes that neither of us are familiar with for a fair test.

  3. I got 99 problems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    and a Switch ain't one.

  4. Weirdly written by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Switch version of Fortnite will only support cross-play with Xbox One, PC, Mac, and mobile.

    What a strange way to word that. it will "only" work with everything but PS4.

    The Verge reports: That aligns with past cross-play implementations between Xbox One, PS4, PC, and mobile,

    So did the PS4 used to work with Xbox One, PC, and Mobile?

    with Sony blocking other console platforms from playing with its own. You can cross-play between PS4, mobile, and PC.

    Wait, no. Sony won't work with any other consoles. But it still works with PC and mobile.

    I don't even want to RTFA as it might say that it will work with NES, Atari 2600, Magnavox Odyssey and Ms. Pacman. And if you sacrifice a goat during a blue super moon it will also work with Duesenberg cars, the original Eli Whitney cotton gin, and any abacus built before 1874.

    1. Re:Weirdly written by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Yea, I also thought it was suspicious how they managed to word it to sound like this was somehow everyone else's fault but Sony's.

    2. Re:Weirdly written by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The problem with cross-play between consoles is that "modded" consoles can taint the gameplay. With a PC you already know it's a taintable source, so you put additional protection measures that would make PC cheaters easy to spot, but PS4, Xbox One and Switch cheats would go unnoticed.

      Where things get wacky is that it's entirely possible to jailbreak a console by using the crossplay functionality. Because Fortnite is basically a (Unreal) game engine that was designed for single player, you can typically hack the game to bring up the dev console and do things. So figure out the right exploit in the game engine and replay it to your console version of the game from the pc version, and now you've jailbroken your ps4, xbox one, switch, and whatever else that is capable of running it.

      That said, a lot of game developers really need to stop using "off-the-shelf" game engines for multiplayer games that are competative in nature. You can't stop Logitech and Razer from releasing macro keyboards and mouse systems, you can't prevent ASUS from releasing monitors with built in gaming overlays. So you may as well just admit that people will cheat, by hook or by crook, and start designing these game engines with the assumption that it's running in an tainted environment.

      I do not like the idea of cloud gaming, but we're going to start seeing a push towards "streamed gameplay" where players connect to a cloud data center and there is nothing to hack on the game player's end, it's just a video stream. That way players of PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch devices can connect to a rendering cluster and see video optimized for their device.

    3. Re:Weirdly written by Talderas · · Score: 1

      You're telling me I can't run it on the antikythera mechanism? Well, that sucks.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    4. Re:Weirdly written by tepples · · Score: 1

      You're telling me I can't run it on the antikythera mechanism?

      If you have one of those, you might want to try Kerbal Space Program on it instead.

    5. Re:Weirdly written by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      I'm still holding out for the Atari ST port...

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  5. Not about cross play by darkain · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those that don't want to dig into the details, here is the gist of it.

    Fortnite uses an Epic Games account to login. If you've EVER logged into a Sony's PS4 with this account and touched Fortnite on it, this account become permanently locked out of both Microsoft's XBox One and Nintendo's Switch. The issue is not about cross play even, people are accepting that it wont happen. The issue is the fact that the outside Epic account becomes locked because of a deal Sony forced upon Epic games.

    This of course became front and center in the spot light again today now that the Switch version of the game launched this morning, and a fuckton of people are pissed off that their in-game progress and paid content is entirely inaccessible on the Switch if they've ever touched the PS4 version.

    1. Re:Not about cross play by Luthair · · Score: 1

      Particularly bad as one imagines avid fortnite players with a ps4 probably logged in at some point for a look-see even if they didn't / don't actively play the game there.

    2. Re:Not about cross play by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      This of course became front and center in the spot light again today now that the Switch version of the game launched this morning, and a fuckton of people are pissed off that their in-game progress and paid content is entirely inaccessible on the Switch if they've ever touched the PS4 version.

      They're pissed because Switch is the first mobile/portable platform that has real controllers. The appeal is you can take your progress with you - perhaps you played on PC or console at home, take your switch and play on the road with a controller. Yes, you can play on mobile, but touchscreen? Sure you may have gyro aim, but still.

      I'm guessing this is one time everyone else should be moving to capitalize on Sony's mis-step.

    3. Re:Not about cross play by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 2

      6 months ago I was very much on the fence between an X-BoneS or PS4, willing to break my personal Sony boycott of 12 years. Found out that the X-boneS had more of the features I was looking for built in and went that way. Now I catch wind of this bull and am very glad I stayed with the boycott.

      sony 0, me 6

    4. Re:Not about cross play by flink · · Score: 1

      Fortnite uses an Epic Games account to login. If you've EVER logged into a Sony's PS4 with this account and touched Fortnite on it, this account become permanently locked out of both Microsoft's XBox One and Nintendo's Switch. The issue is not about cross play even, people are accepting that it wont happen. The issue is the fact that the outside Epic account becomes locked because of a deal Sony forced upon Epic games.

      I am gobsmacked that Epic would agree to this. It's their account management system after all and Fortnight is huge. I can understand not implementing cross-platform play with the PS4 at the behest of Sony, but I'm surprised Sony had the leverage to make Epic piss off so many of their customers like this.

    5. Re: Not about cross play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Microsoft tried to force a first-hand only market down people's throats with the Xbone, tried to cover their tracks by saying it was so ingrained into everything that there was no possible way it could be changed, and only after realizing it was guaranteed console suicide changed their mind (thus proving themselves liars in the process no less).

      Literally every company will try shady anti-consumer bullshit and the only way to stop them is by making it very clear the masses won't buy it. When it comes to consoles, the leader has no reason to be better. Sony came up with PSPlus when they were trailing, their online service was free so they enticed people to pay for access to old games free/cheap. It was a good move and generally considered worth paying for.

      Sony is currently "winning", as such they're not incentivised to not be shitty.

    6. Re:Not about cross play by barc0001 · · Score: 1

      Sony once again screws their customers? This is my shocked face.

    7. Re:Not about cross play by Luthair · · Score: 1

      Not someone with a PS4 or playing fortnite but my understanding is that Sony did not lockout the PC only other consoles.

    8. Re:Not about cross play by Trogre · · Score: 1

      ... and you went with Microsoft?

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    9. Re:Not about cross play by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 1

      As opposed to what? A Switch? Nintendo's not quite there yet for me. The choice for console gaming is limited. I'm also a PC gamer as well. I want the platforms that afford the greatest freedoms of movement between them. Right now, Sony has the least being downright locked down, and Microsoft has the most being able to integrate with a Win10 PC as well as being able to have some games where gamers from PC and X-Bone can play together. So, yeah: I chose fair to middling option over the piss poor ones, simply because there's no "good" option out there; let alone perfect.

  6. Re:Wait... what?! by Narcocide · · Score: 4, Funny

    With gyro-aim the Switch users are going to mop the floor with everyone using joysticks. That's the real reason Sony doesn't want to play with anyone.

  7. stupid by SuperDre · · Score: 1

    I'm a Playstation fan, but I think Sony should stop this nonsense, if people want to play with other consoles they should be allowed. It's clear there is no technical reason for not being able to have crossplay as it has even worked for a couple of hours back when fortnite was introduced on the PS..
    Sony, stop it, and don't talk about nonsense of not being able to moderate it, nobody wants that anyway..

    1. Re:stupid by nmo.marques · · Score: 2

      I am a PS4 user and this is all old news. Search Google, Sony keeps this stance by years. I use a PS4 to play with PS4 users, not PC or any other consoles. Specially not PC. I dont play fortnight which is a bad game.

    2. Re:stupid by CronoCloud · · Score: 2

      Search Google, Sony keeps this stance by years.

      Only since their success with the PS4, before that with the PS3 and PS2 they were VERY much in favor of cross-platform play with other consoles.

      They've ALWAYS been supportive of Playstation-PC (including OSX and Linux) crossplay.

  8. And... by evil+crash · · Score: 1

    This is why we can't have nice thing.

    --
    "Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."-THG
  9. Re:Wait... what?! by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

    No they don't, since Fortnite...even the BR version isn't a fast paced twitch first person shooter. It is THIRD person. Though PS4 players do have the option for keyboard and mouse. I play Save the World (the PVE RPG-shooter-tower-defense-sandbox part) and don't feel the need for it.

  10. Re:I guess I was right by CronoCloud · · Score: 2

    Microsoft have been advocating for cross-platform play for awhile now. It's Sony that has always been backpedaling on the idea.

    You do know that in the previous generation the situation was reversed? That the reason Dust514 was on PS3 was because Microsoft was opposed to linking games with PC and was opposed to USB control options?

    Sony is just being spiteful in return as payback for Microsofts asshattery in the previous generation. Sony's still OK with crossplay with PC/Linux/OSX/mobile though.

  11. Re:Wait, Fortnite runs on Linux? by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

    And BSD?

    PS4's are FreeBSD machines....so yes.

    https://doc.dl.playstation.net...

  12. Re:Wait... what?! by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

    In most cases it makes the aiming reticule "slightly sticky", meaning it doesn't attract to the center-of-the-hitbox, but to whatever part of the target you're closest to. And as I said, there is usually an option to turn it off, or adjust it. In some games it could only be used in single-player.

    Personally I found it a hindrance in the PS2 version of Half-Life, even with gamepad only so I turned it off.