Epic Games Disables Fortnite Crossplay

Earlier today, reports emerged that Fortnite players could crossplay between PS4 and Xbox One. Alas, the feature only lasted a few hours. Indeed, it seems that developer Epic Games accidentally enabled cross-platform online play and, when it noticed, quickly disabled it. The developer describes the incident as a “configuration issue”. However, now that Epic demonstrated that crossplay is as easy as flipping a switch, it will be difficult to get the genie back in that bottle. Expect fan outcry, like, right now.

Fortnite Crossplay

Epic is being rather tight-lipped about its Fortnite crossplay snafu. In its only official statement so far – an e-mail to Kotaku – Epic said:

“We had a configuration issue and it has now been corrected.”

Corrected? Tell that to Fortnite players.

Xbox One/PS4 Crossplay

Very few games feature Xbox One/PS4 crossplay and the issue appears to be on Sony’s end. In fact, the company claims its reluctance is based on concern over vexatious online environments. Earlier this Summer, PlayStation global sales and marketing head Jim Ryan told Eurogamer:

“We have a contract with the people who go online with us, that we look after them and they are within the PlayStation curated universe. Exposing what in many cases are children to external influences we have no ability to manage or look after, it’s something we have to think about very carefully.”

However, Ryan does concede:

“It’s certainly not a profound philosophical stance we have against this. We’ve done it in the past. We’re always open to conversations with any developer or publisher who wants to talk about it.”

Let’s hope any future conversations lead to decisions that benefit gamers.