Cross-platform play between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 seemed unlikely to happen anytime soon considering the recent complications between Microsoft and Sony. However, one game has already managed to enable cross-play between the two platforms.

The phenomenon was discovered two days ago by a Reddit user playing Epic Games' recently launched early access game Fortnite on the PlayStation 4. The user noticed that a player who killed him in the game's new battle royale mode had a name tag with a space in it, which is impossible to do on a PlayStation 4, but not a problem on the Xbox One or PC.

Following some Reddit detective work, the user quickly found out that the only player with that name tag playing Fortnite was on the Xbox One. Several more Reddit users also came forward with reports of cross-play between the two platforms occurring.

Sadly, the feature turned out to be a mistake by the developer, and has now been disabled, with Epic Games releasing a statement today to The Verge stating that it had a "configuration issue" and that "it has now been corrected.”

There are also reports of PlayStation 4 players being matched with PC users, although it is unclear if this is intended to be a planned feature or another "configuration error." Unlike between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, Cross-play between PC and PlayStation 4 isn't unheard of, with Rocket League allowing players of both platforms to play together. It also appears that PC and Xbox One players were once able to play together, but the functionality was removed in a previous update to the game.

The game's FAQ states that "Cross-platform play is not supported by Fortnite at this time," meaning this could be an actual feature down the line in early access, or in the full release when the game goes free-to-play.

With cross-platform play between the two consoles being so easy to implement that a developer manages to enable it accidentally, hopefully, Microsoft and Sony will manage to negotiate a way for the feature to come to fruition in an official manner.

Posted: Sep 19, 2017 9:54 am
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.vg247.com/2017/09/18/fortnite-quietly-enables-ps4-and-xbox-one-cross-platform-play-report/