Fortnite, the popular battle royale game, has been available to users of Android devices early August. Much as that is the case, there has been one problem, though. They couldn’t play against their counterparts who access the game through Sony’s own console, the PlayStation 4.
Now, the PlayStation 4 is the world’s best-selling game console at the moment and, with 82 million units sold as of the last quarter, is on course to eclipsing its predecessor’s record 84 million units sold, a big achievement for the 5-year-old product from Sony. Couple that with the fact that Android is the world’s most popular mobile platform and you already know that the push to have many players on either platform compete against each other has been on our hearts and minds for so long.
Now, it’s happening.
A statement from Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) CEO and President John Kodera released two days ago notes that, “Following a comprehensive evaluation process, SIE has identified a path toward supporting cross-platform features for select third party content.”
“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,” the statement continues.
Sony has not shared exact details of when players can expect this to start but it has already committed to it as part of an extended beta to test cross-platform play for not just Fortnite but the PlayStation as a platform. Fortnite just happens to be the first game out of, hopefully, several others that Sony’s games division hopes to avail.
While this is nice and all since it’s a piece of news we have anticipated for quite a long time now, it might be pretty late since Android Fortnite players have already had cross-platform gameplay that links them up with those playing on other platforms for a while now. Still, better late…
