Fortnite Adds Xbox One And PS4 Cross-Console Play By Accident, Hastily Fixes Error
Fortnite has supported cross-platform play ever since its Early Access launch in July. Cross-console play between PS4 and Xbox One users, however, is a different matter. Imagine their surprise when they suddenly found themselves playing with each other over the weekend. Player PRE_-CISION-_ posted screenshots and videos on Reddit as proof of the incident.
Why all the fuss? It’s probably because cross-console play between Xbox One and PlayStation 4 users is a first in gaming history. And, while Microsoft has expressed their willingness to support cross-console play, Sony has been reluctant to enable the feature.
Unfortunately, what players thought was an awesome, albeit stealthy move by Epic Games, was actually a bug and not, as everyone had hoped, Sony having a sudden change of heart and deciding to play nice with Microsoft. “We had a configuration issue and it has now been corrected,” an Epic Games representative said in an e-mail to Kotaku. Xbox head Phil Spencer also responded to a Tweet about the incident:
@XboxP3 @XboxQwik What you think of the Accidental Temporary Cross-play of ps4 and Xbox one? Everybody was loving it. lol too bad its fixed.
— Frederick Louis E✖ (@FreedDreamer) September 18, 2017
While the cross-console fun may have been short-lived, it shows us that it is indeed possible for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 users to play together, and apparently as easy as changing a few lines of code.
In a co-op game like Fortnite, the ability to play with friends regardless of what system they’re using obviously makes the game infinitely better. It also considerably ups the fun factor in last-man standing games like the newly introduced Battle Royale mode which you can check out below.
