In recent months Sony has taken some flack for their apparent unwillingness to join with Microsoft and Nintendo in looking for opportunities to allow cross-play across systems. Games like Minecraft and Rocket League can now be played together by friends of any platform preference… except PlayStation 4. Is there any chance that could change in the future? Well, perhaps for some games, but apparently not for Fortnite.

Shawn Layden, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America and chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios, has previously indicated that Sony is looking at possibilities for cross-play, but we’ve seen little to show for it. Speaking at the IFA technology show in Berlin, new Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida indicated that it could happen for some games, but not for Fortnite.

“On cross-platform, our way of thinking is always that PlayStation is the best place to play. Fortnite, I believe, partnered with PlayStation 4 is the best experience for users, that’s our belief. But actually, 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.”

— Kenichiro Yoshida



Yoshida sees PlayStation 4 as the best version of the game, and apparently, he doesn’t want to see it tainted by allowing players contact with what he sees as inferior versions. I’m not really sure what makes Fortnite so special that it couldn’t possibly be opened up to cross-play while other games could, but that’s the story Yoshida’s pitching. That still doesn’t explain why Sony is barring players from transferring their save data if they own the game on multiple platforms.

Source: Independent