Fortnite has emerged as one of the biggest games in the video game industry. Earlier this month, the game saw 3.4 million fans playing at the same time. But the number one player wish is likely to be unanswered.
Players are clamoring for cross-platform play—which would allow them to compete with anyone, regardless of if they’re playing on a PC, Xbox One or PlayStation 4. Epic Games, creator of Fortnite, wants to do it. Even Microsoft is on board. But don’t expect Sony to jump on the bandwagon.
Microsoft is already pushing cross-platform play between Xbox and the PC – and that makes sense, as it largely controls both platforms. But for Sony, there’s no upside to opening its gates to competitive players.
The PS4 is far and away the sales leader among this generation of game systems. Microsoft has long since stopped giving hard sales numbers, as the gap was growing wider. More hardware in homes means more software sales for Sony – and software is where the video game industry makes its money.
The increased chatter about cross-play comes after a fan tweeted to Phil Spencer, who runs Xbox, that he wanted to be able to see Xbox One and PS4 players battle each other.
Me 2.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 10, 2018
Epic soon joined the thread.
We 3!
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) March 11, 2018
Gamers have been down this road before. Players of Rocket League have long been asking the companies to allow cross-platform play, but Sony has steadily refused.