Over the last few months, there has been much controversy over Sony's approach to cross-platform multiplayer. From locking gamers to their own platform in Fortnite to claiming that Playstation is the superior platform, Playstation have had a plethora of excuses to justify their decisions.

Today, Sony published a blog post on their official blog, announcing that they are finally looking into the matter. Starting from today, Fortnite players on Playstation 4 will be able to play with other players on Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Windows, and Mac. Right now, it is being called an 'open beta', and Sony is still claiming that playing is 'best on Playstation'.

Sony will also be looking into crossplay in other third-party titles in the future.

Following a comprehensive evaluation process, SIE has identified a path toward supporting cross-platform features for select third party content. We recognize that PS4 players have been eagerly awaiting an update, and we appreciate the community’s continued patience as we have navigated through this issue to find a solution.

The first step will be an open beta beginning today for Fortnite that will allow for cross platform gameplay, progression and commerce across PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Mac operating systems. We see the beta as an opportunity to conduct thorough testing that ensures cross-platform play is best on PlayStation, while being mindful about the user experience from both a technical and social perspective.

For 24 years, we have strived to deliver the best gaming experience to our fans by providing a uniquely PlayStation perspective. Today, the communities around some games have evolved to the point where cross-platform experiences add significant value to players. In recognition of this, we have completed a thorough analysis of the business mechanics required to ensure that the PlayStation experience for our users remains intact today, and in the future, as we look to open up the platform.

This represents a major policy change for SIE, and we are now in the planning process across the organization to support this change. We will update the community once we have more details to share, including more specifics regarding the beta timeframe, and what this means for other titles going forward.

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[Yepi69]

Sony already had some cross-play games before the whole Minecraft cross-play thing. So no, Minecraft would have not been the first.

Not involving the other platforms besides PC.

 

[tiamat999]

Now how about ps3 backwards compat still gonna be lazy with it and just push ps now

 

[Yepi69]

Now how about ps3 backwards compat still gonna be lazy with it and just push ps now

Depends, can you come up with an emulator for the PS4?

 

[tiamat999]

No but im sure sony is more than capable of doing it if they werent lazy

 

[Yepi69]

No but im sure sony is more than capable of doing it if they werent lazy

Lazy or not, the fact that the PS3's CPU is a complete mess of an architecture to begin with, emulating that on a x86 CPU its not easy work.