Fortnite was finally announced and made immediately available for the Nintendo Switch during the company"s E3 presentation. However, it appears that owners of PlayStation 4 who were hoping to play Fortnite on the go on their Switch have reason to worry, with Sony blocking cross-play and even progression between the two consoles.
If gamers try to login with an Epic Games account that has already been used on a PlayStation 4, they are treated with the following error message:
This Fortnite account is associated with a platform which does not allow it to operate on Switch. Neither the Fortnite website nor Epic Customer Service are able to change this. To play Fortnite on Switch, please create a new account.
Basically, what this means is that if you are an owner of both the consoles, you won"t be able to share your purchases or level progression between the platforms.
Needless to say, gamers have been furious over this anti-competitive behavior from Sony and have taken to Reddit and other social media platforms to voice their displeasure.
That said, the move isn"t exactly surprising. Last year, Sony blocked cross-play between PlayStation 4 and other platforms for Minecraft and Rocket League, saying that it has to be "mindful of our responsibility to our install base". We explained how ridiculous this reasoning was and how Sony needs to change its strategy for the betterment of players rather than its own business, but it seems that all consumer feedback is falling on deaf ears.