Games nowadays are advancing towards an era where the AI developed by the game developer has been becoming obsolete with the advancements of games that allow player vs. player (PVP) format, with games like Minecraft and rocket league that made the start of the co-op and PVP campaigns. Many games follow suit, and we got the first Battle Royale game PUBG that took PC and then Xbox community by a storm after a year Epic games released their take on Battle Royale Genre Fortnite a free to play survival shooter game that allows 100 players to play against each other in an island. The game is played with a third person perspective.
At the time Fortnite was announced, it was released on PS4, Xbox One and PC, they also announced that a mobile version would also be released in future and we saw IOS version of Fortnite, although it is still unclear when an Android version will be released we hope to get news on it, this summer.
Lastly, during E3 they announced that the switch version of Fortnite would be available to download in the switch’s eShop by 1 pm. Only after 2 hours 2 million people downloaded the game on Switch showcasing the popularity the game has among its fanbase on switch platform.
People who already play on their respective platforms can continue their campaign on the switch with the exception of the people who play it on their PS4 console or have their Epic accounts linked with their PSN accounts. We saw immediate backlash from people including famous Fortnite streamers who have their account linked. Whenever one tries to login using their account, an error occurs that clearly shows the disgust from the Epic games.
.@PlayStation, fix this.
Not allowing me to sign-in to Fortnite Switch with my Epic account because it's linked to PS4 is tone deaf and points more to fear than market dominance.
It does the opposite of what you want — it makes me think about moving to Xbox for Fortnite. pic.twitter.com/D9xqv9aWdF
— Greg Miller (@GameOverGreggy) June 12, 2018
Blocking the cross-play between consoles is not new from SONY as they have already blocked the cross-play between Xbox one the rival console on Minecraft, Rocket league and also Fortnite. Nintendo switch players have now joined them now. SONY’s spokesperson said that it is their policy that they are allowing the Fortnite cross-play with players on IOS devices and PC. Another spokesperson said in an interview with BBC that if their community required them to allow something they would definitely work for it. SONY has given no other statement on this topic even after having such a huge backlash from its players.
The reason why SONY has been blocking the cross-play with the rival consoles is that they want to make sure that the exclusive trademark of their console remains intact. Ps4 has been the most selling console of the generation beating its direct rival Xbox One by 2 to 1 margin. If they allow the cross-play, then the need to buy the expensive PS4 console will no longer be there. Whenever a person thinks of buying a game console, the first thing in mind comes in the exclusives and then the platform of their friends. If a person wants to play Fortnite with his friend who plays on PlayStation, then he can only play with him if he has a PlayStation console. They have made their mark in past years and in order to retain their ‘exclusive status’, but they are blocking their players to play with players on other consoles.
In conclusion, SONY has been trying to make sure that whenever a person thinks of buying a console their console should be the ultimate choice, it is doing very well in this regard, their sales are still increasing day by day. But they are frustrating their current player community, the PlayStation players have openly said that these policies are forcing them to switch to another more accommodating console platform. We hope that SONY amends its ways and make their strategy more prone to the already existing community.