Sony is finally changing its stance against PlayStation 4 cross-play, with the announcement that it will enable the feature for the massively popular Battle Royale shooter Fortnite just in time for Season 6.
The move is a major win for gamers across all consoles, as the final wall to true cross-platform play has finally started to break down.
Sony Finally Enables PlayStation 4 Cross-Play
Sony has long stood firm that it will not enable PlayStation 4 cross-play with rival consoles, particularly the Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch. The move was meant to keep players within the PlayStation 4 ecosystem, and Sony had leverage because the console remains the most popular one in the industry.
The latest example was with Fortnite, for which Sony blocked Fortnite accounts from being used on the Nintendo Switch after it was already used on the PlayStation 4. Sony then made things worse by breaking its silence on the issue, as it did not directly talk about blocking Fortnite cross-play.
However, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said earlier this year that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One cross-play for Fortnite was "inevitable," and in June, Sony Interactive Entertainment America President and CEO Shawn Layden hinted that cross-platform play may arrive in the future.
Apparently, the future is now. Sony has broken the barrier, allowing Fortnite cross-play for the PlayStation 4 with the Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch, in addition to PC, iOS, and Android.
According to an official PlayStation blog post, Sony has released an open beta for Fortnite cross-play on the PlayStation 4. The beta will be an opportunity for Sony to test how cross-platform play will work on the console, though everyone already knows that it works because Epic Games accidentally enabled the feature in September last year.
The blog post admitted that opening up the PlayStation 4 to cross-play is a major change for Sony, but hinted that the feature will also be coming to more games in the future.
'Fortnite' Broke Sony
For the first time, all console owners on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch will be able to play together, in what is a historic moment for the video game industry.
Rocket League, Minecraft, Fallout 76, and The Elder Scrolls: Legends all tried to convince Sony to enable PlayStation 4 cross-play. However, all of them failed. Fortnite, however, was simply too massive for Sony to ignore, as the multiplayer shooter finally succeeded in changing the company's mind and opening up the PlayStation 4's walled garden.
