Fortnite PS4, Switch Issue: Gamers Are Mad, Sony Seems Unfazed
There's a bit of a disconnect between the PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch when it comes to Fortnite. It became apparent rather quickly after Fortnite for Nintendo Switch was turned ON this week that something was amiss. While cross-play and player progression between platforms is largely available for Fortnite on MOST platforms, those that've ever played on PS4 cannot use their account on the Nintendo Switch. And Fortnite players aren't very happy about it.
You can play Fortnite on a PC, switch to a MacBook, move to an iPhone, and play later on an Xbox One, then in the morning play on your Nintendo Switch, all on the same account. There's no issue there. But once you've used that account on Sony's PlayStation 4, you can no longer use said account on Nintendo Switch.
That's the only block that's happened between ALL of the platforms on which Fortnite resides currently. You can play on Xbox One and switch to Nintendo Switch and switch back again. You can move back and forth between iPad and PC and Nintendo Switch.
UPDATE: You cannot move back and forth between PlayStation 4 and any other platform now – apparently now even if you've only logged on to a PSN for PS4 account for a moment. Sony seems to think they've got something special in disallowing their PS4-connected Fortnite accounts from connecting to any other platform... which is nonsense.
For those players that've spent a whole lot of time on PlayStation 4 and want to play on the Nintendo Switch, or any other platform for that matter, there's currently some bad blood boiling.
If you have a peek at Reddit you'll find a whole lot of madness going on with regard to this PS4 lockup. Similar (albeit slightly smaller) threads have appeared at Neogaf and Epic Games Forums. You'll also see more than a few Tweets on the issue if you search for "FortniteSwitch" this afternoon.
@Sony @PlayStation Thanks for always putting your customer first. Since I created my Epic account and linked it to my PS4, I am now unable to log in to my Epic account on my Switch. There's seriously no excuse for this. #FortniteE3 #Fortnite #Sony #PlayStationE3 #FortniteSwitch pic.twitter.com/PEqjut3Ubs
— Brian (@ORLtragic) June 12, 2018
Here's the real question: Are the number of people mad at the moment greater than the amount of people who'll think "oh bummer" and continue to play on PS4 exclusively? I don't see that as a very plausible outcome, Sony. Seems like sort of a goofball play. Unless Sony is afraid people will enjoy playing Fortnite on other platforms more than PS4. Is that it, Sony? Are you... chicken?