Sony's Latest Fortnite Cross-Play Excuse Is A Stupid One
For a couple of months now, Fortnite players on PS4 have been locked out of their Epic accounts on other consoles. While those players can still use their Epic accounts to play Fortnite on PC and mobile, they can't on Nintendo Switch ot Xbox One. That restriction has been a major point of frustration for Fortnite fans who own more than one console, and thus far, Sony hasn't given us much hope that the problem will be resolved in a way that benefits players.
In fact, Sony's latest statement on the matter is certainly the silliest one it's made yet. As reported by The Independent, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida touched on the subject of cross-play during a talk at IFA 2018, suggesting that the reason why Fortnite isn't cross-play compatible is simply because other consoles offer a sub-par experience when compared to PlayStation 4.
"On cross-platform, our way of thinking is always that PlayStation is the best place to play," Yoshida said. "Fortnite, I believe, partnered with PlayStation 4 is the best experience for users, that's our belief."
"But actually," Yoshida continued, "we already opened some games as cross-platform with PC and some others, so we decide based on what is the best user experience. That is our way of thinking for cross-platform."
If you think Yoshida's reasoning doesn't make much sense, you definitely aren't alone. It's unclear what, exactly, Yoshida thinks the threat presented by cross-play actually is. Even if he does think that PlayStation 4 offers the best Fortnite experience, how does cross-play change that? At the very least, it's laughable that he'd say Sony's cross-play restrictions were put in place with the "best user experience" in mind.
In any case, it's definitely a weak excuse for locking Fortnite accounts to one platform, and it's another non-answer that's clearly meant to sidestep the issue. Sony's strategy seems to be to wait for the outrage over locked Fortnite accounts to die down without presenting an actual solution, and that's a shame. Hopefully the company changes its tune soon, but this latest statement doesn't instill much confidence.