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Microsoft blames Sony for lack of Fortnite cross-play on consoles

Published Mar 13th, 2018 6:50AM EDT
Xbox One vs. PS4
Image: Epic Games

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The last few days proved that Fortnite: Battle Royale is an epic success for Epic Games after the company announced mobile support for iOS and Android devices. Epic Games opened its sign-up page for mobile devices on Monday, and the site went down almost immediately because of all the extra traffic.

The company also announced support for cross-play games with a huge caveat. Xbox players would not be able to compete against PlayStation users, which is pretty annoying. Whose fault is it? Microsoft points the finger at Sony.

“Microsoft has long been a leading voice in encouraging the adoption of cross-platform play and the potential of connecting players across PC, mobile and all consoles,” a Microsoft representative told Kotaku in an email.

“We’ve worked closely with Nintendo to allow cross-network play between Xbox One and Switch and our offer to do the same with PlayStation players still holds. For any other questions regarding Fortnite cross-network play between Xbox and PlayStation, please reach out to Epic or Sony directly.”

The clarification came soon after Xbox boss Phil Spencer answered to a gamer on Twitter that he too would like to know when Xbox One and PS4 players will be able to play Fortnite together.

Both Xbox One and PS4 players can fight against gamer suing Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows devices, which seems to indicate it’s all pretty easy to set up. In fact, Epic Studios accidentally enabled Xbox One vs. PS4 cross-play last September. It all lasted just a few hours and it was described as a “configuration issue” that was corrected. Spencer said at the time that he “would have liked to see them leave it on.”

It sure seems like Sony is to blame in this case. At least according to Microsoft. Sony is yet to issue an explanation.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.