Fortnite for the Nintendo Switch was announced during this year's E3, becoming available to download the very same day it was revealed—giving players the chance to play this battle royale sensation on-the-go.
While this was great news for a lot of fans, it wasn't so much for others who realised that they couldn't acces their Fortnite account on the Nintendo Switch. This only happened to players who had already created an account to play on a PlayStation console. The reason for this is because Sony simply didn't allow for cross-play—which caused a massive outrage in the
Fortnite, and gaming community.
The controversy didn't stop there as Sony, in a poor attempt to justify themselves,
released a statement that didn't convince anyone; in fact, it only added to the backlash the company was already facing. It also didn't help that
Nintendo CEO Reggie Fils-Aimé openly discussed cross-play and why it was so important to have such feature on the Nintendo Switch.
To add more fuel to the fire,
Nintendo and Microsoft released a video showing that they were openly collaborating in allowing players to coexist, on both consoles—as well as PC—when playing
Minecraft.
It wasn't until recently that
Sony finally allowed cross-platform play for Fortnite, finally putting an end to all the controversy that ensued after not allowing for cross-play for so long.
In a recent episode of the PlayStation Blog Podcast, Sony Entertainment Interactive Worldwide Studios Chairman, Shawn Layden, addresses the reason behind cross-platform on the PlayStation taking this long, as well as showing his excitement to finally have their console support this feature.
"
This is something we know about, we know this is a want, this is a desire. And we want to deliver that in the best way possible. Now enabling cross-play isn’t just a flip of a switch and there you go. It’s a very multi-dimensional attribute or feature. So we had to look at it from a technical point of view, we had to look at it with our partners from a business point of view. We have to make sure if we enable this do we have the right customer service support? Do we have the right messaging out there? It’s rather ordinal", explained Layden.
"
Everything has to go in a certain order to get them all set up and that’s why it has taken us longer certainly than what I would have wanted. But it took us longer than what it was going to take to get it ready and get it done which is why we were able to not only able to announce it this past Tuesday, but enable it at the same time".
It is clear that they are very excited to finally allow cross-platform play on the PlayStation. While he is right that allowing cross-play on the platform it isn't just done with a simple "flip of a switch" it is undeniable that had it not been for the massive backlash, players would still be clamouring for cross-platform play on the PlayStation 4. Regardless, this is great news for PlayStation players, as well as the gaming community as a whole.