PlayStation 4 Changes Crossplay Policy, Begins Fortnite Testing

Sony announced this week a major policy shift regarding crossplay with other consoles. PlayStation 4 previously wouldn't allow online games to connect to Xbox One or Switch players. This week, Sony is starting a beta test for Fortnite crossplay. From a report: Crossplay between consoles once seemed like a fantasy, but Xbox One and Switch have enabled people to play together for games like Fortnite and Rocket League. PlayStation 4 would permit crossplay with PC players, but it refused to connect to other consoles. Sony's excuse stated that such crossplay would hamper its capability to deliver a consistent experience. But the decision drew criticism from PS4 fans, especially those that were angry when they tried to install Fortnite on their Switch and found out they couldn't carry over their PS4 progress.

Sony's full of shit

[Colin Castro]

Twitch was (might still be) blocked on PS4 from watching the streams of Xbox and others gameplay as well. Sony just wants to control it's ecosystem and get people to buy Sony. I'm surprised they gave into the pressure.

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[Opportunist]

I've tried all the things you mention.

They're overrated.

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[Ogive17]

Shouldn't you be outside getting laid instead of poking fun of others on /. ?

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[Opportunist]

In reality, they just don't want people to know that their consoles are aging pretty badly.

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[CronoCloud]

Why wouldn't that apply to the Xbox One's as well? or the Switch, which has more in common with the Vita than the PS4/Xbox

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[Opportunist]

Because the story is about the Sony Playstation and I try to stay on topic?

Their hand was forced

[olsmeister]

Once other platforms start allowing crossplay, they have to as well or watch their customers migrate to where they are not as restricted.

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[AmiMoJo]

Won't PS4 players be at a big disadvantage against people using a keyboard and mouse on PC/XBOX though?

Or can you connect a keyboard and mouse to the PS4 as well?

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[known_coward_69]

if my kids' school is any indication, most fortnite players are under 12

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[CronoCloud]

For battle royale, yes. The game has pixar-ish looking graphics so it passes the "mom glances at game to see if theres any blood/sex/pentagrams" test. Even though Battle Royale is inspired by the R-rated the film Battle Royale itself

Really young kids shouldn't be playing since the game is T rated. If I had my druthers every kid caught playing it should be banned...permanently. They're a plague in the original Save the World mode. which is the more complex team based PVE shooter/rpg/tower/defense/sandbo

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[Anonymous Coward]

You can connect a mouse and keyboard to the ps4.

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[CronoCloud]

I've said this many many times on Slashdot: The PS2/PS3/PS4 all have USB ports for a reason. Sony has also supported mouse and/or keyboard on their Playstation hardware LONGER than Microsoft has on the Xbox. YEARS, when Microsoft has only decided to announce support this week.The first game that will support alternate controls on Xbox will be Warframe next month. I have PS2 games with mouse/keyboard support. For both platforms, the developer has the final decision. Some games will some won't.

On the PS

Re: Their hand was forced

[Nelson Marques]

They dont. Check what Chronusmax Plus is. The scourge of console gaming.

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[DrXym]

I expect more likely they got Epic to not try and fuck them over by cross promoting, or allowing PS4 players to purchase items or season passes from outside of the PSN store.

That's essentially what it boiled down to. Epic are doing the same on Android, stepping entirely outside of the Play store so they can sell items without paying anything to Google for doing so. I imagine Sony were more than a little bit worried about the same thing happening to them.

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[tlhIngan]

I expect more likely they got Epic to not try and fuck them over by cross promoting, or allowing PS4 players to purchase items or season passes from outside of the PSN store.

That's essentially what it boiled down to. Epic are doing the same on Android, stepping entirely outside of the Play store so they can sell items without paying anything to Google for doing so. I imagine Sony were more than a little bit worried about the same thing happening to them.

Unlike Google and Android, the PS4 is a closed ecosyst

Elite: Dangerous PC/XBox/PS4/Mac crossplay?

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's hope that Elite: Dangerous [frontier.co.uk] (the game that made the wait for Duke Nukem Forever seem like a couple of seconds) is next.

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[Tablizer]

Crossplay? It's Dukina Nukem.

Ugh!

[OrangeTide]

Now I have to play games with PS4 users?

Bring back the walled gardens, especially the ones that keep the riff-raff trapped inside.

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[CronoCloud]

It's the supposed PC Master race that's the riff raff, especially the ones outside of North America, Japan and Western Europe. Cheap-ass Brazilian/Thai/etc pirates and grimdark obsessed Russian/Polish/Hungarian/etc edgelords

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[OrangeTide]

It's the supposed PC Master race that's the riff raff,

And I'm sure PS4 users believe that. ;-)

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[CronoCloud]

you think that some tennager who plays one level of LoL over and over on a laptop is something special?
Or the equivalent who plays the Warehouse in TF2, or de.dust in CS?
or the Korean college dropout hopped up on Adderall playing Starcraft
or someone who only plays WoW?

Or what about the guys more interested in playing benchmarks for e-peen points rather than actually playing games?
Or the guys who brag about the games they buy for 5 bucks on Steam that they never get around to playing.

And don't get me started

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[OrangeTide]

by idiot sheeple lusers too stupid to properly admin their own machines.

I've not met these elitist Linux users you're talking about, but they seem like my kind of crowd.

[...] de.dust in CS?

You're supposed to play CS as a 6 hour session with de_dust2 as the only map on the server list. I don't make the rules, that's just how the game is played.

Or the guys who brag about the games they buy for 5 bucks on Steam that they never get around to playing.

I have soooo many games from Steam summer sales over the last several years. Some of them I've actually played. Most of those are trash though.

Console gamers focus on the games, they don't go around calling PC gamers peasants or "welfare gamers" or using other slurs.

Because it wouldn't make sense to call someone with a sweet rig a "welfare gamer". They stick to other slurs, or to

It's the money

[SB5407]

Straight from Sony: "we have completed a thorough analysis of the business mechanics required... (Emphasis mine) The money calculus for it being profitable for them to block the Fortnite Xbox and Switch crossplay must have shifted.