Since the beginning of the Cross-Play movement, there has been one visible holdout that has had gamers perplexed: Sony. For some reason, Sony has been holding back Cross-Play by refusing to allow it on their systems. Even going so far as to say that the “reason” for it was because “the best places to play the game are on our system”. Even when fans demanded it for games like Fortnite, they refused. Well, a miracle has happened, for Sony is finally lessening their hold on Cross-Play.
They made the announcement on their official blog, where they documented the process to realize it was time to allow Cross-Play.
Following a comprehensive evaluation process, SIE has identified a path toward supporting cross-platform features for select third party content. We recognize that PS4 players have been eagerly awaiting an update, and we appreciate the community’s continued patience as we have navigated through this issue to find a solution.
Thankfully, they’re not wasting time in bringing it to the system, for an open beta for Cross-Play has started today!
The first step will be an open beta beginning today for Fortnite that will allow for cross platform gameplay, progression and commerce across PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Mac operating systems. We see the beta as an opportunity to conduct thorough testing that ensures cross-platform play is best on PlayStation, while being mindful about the user experience from both a technical and social perspective.
And according to them, Fortnite will only be the beginning:
This represents a major policy change for SIE, and we are now in the planning process across the organization to support this change. We will update the community once we have more details to share, including more specifics regarding the beta timeframe, and what this means for other titles going forward.
We’ll have to wait and see if this is true though.
