Sony's Attitude Towards Nintendo & Microsoft Only Hurts Fortnite Crossplay

I grew up directly watching the infamous console war of the late ‘80s into the ‘90s and beyond. While other battles had happened prior, it was Nintendo and Sega, then Nintendo and Sony, that I witnessed first-hand as a kid (Huh, Nintendo really didn’t like anyone back then, did they?). As a member of the neutral crowd, I had all of the main systems at some point in my childhood, never fully taking a side back then. Cut to 2018 and we have the “Big 3”: Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. Not much has changed in the mentality of “console wars”, but why? The world is changing and so should we as gamers. So, I ask (or dare I say "insist"?) dear Sony: Get off your high horse and let everyone play Fortnite together. 

But, we'll get to Sony in a moment while I discuss something relevant to the conversation. Nintendo of yesteryear was notorious for keeping their goods on their own systems, not wanting to share anything of theirs with anyone else, and I’ve seen them labeled downright “xenophobic” for keeping to their Japanese roots. Their strict internal policies and “Nintendo Seal of Quality” forbade any real change to be had back then and even years after these things stopped existing.

Then, Nintendo did the unthinkable. They started allowing their intellectual properties to touch other third-party games and characters. In recent years, we’ve seen Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog hitting up the Olympic Games together, Ubisoft’s Rabbids fighting with and against Mario, Bowser and Donkey Kong figures within Activision’s Skylanders series, and Mario and Metroid-based skins in games like Minecraft and Rocket League. The Super Smash Bros series (and especially the upcoming Super Smash Bros Ultimate) brings in guests like Street Fighter’s Ryu, Metal Gear Solid’s Solid Snake, and even Final Fantasy’s Cloud. Oh, and we can’t forget their first big-boy steps into mobile gaming like Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, Magikarp Jump, Pokemon GO, and so on.

Nintendo grew up and made some friends

During E3 2018, one of the biggest pieces of news wasn’t a new game, but simply a port of an existing game. Although it was only a matter of time, Nintendo brought the world-wide sensation battle royale game, Fortnite, onto the Nintendo Switch. They didn’t just announce it, they dropped it into their eShop almost immediately. It was monumental, not that they brought the biggest game in the world onto their system, or even that it was downloaded two million times in the first 24-hour period, but because of the reverberating effects in the industry it set off.

Fortnite has the ability to cross-play between systems, meaning Xbox One players can play with PC players while playing with iOS/ iPhone players. It also means that you can jump from the mobile version of the game and still have progress and skins saved when you pick it back up on the Xbox One. This is due to Epic Games’ account being the thread that holds it all together.

Stop being a wall-flower, Sony, and join the party

This brings me to Sony. While Fortnite allowed them to add an Epic Games account to the PlayStation version, players on Sony’s flagship console could only play the game amongst themselves. We have to keep in mind that Fortnite has only blown up over the past several months, although the Battle Royale mode has been out since September 2017, but Sony just doesn’t want to hang out with anyone but themselves.

So, players that have a Sony link in their Epic Games account cannot even get into the Switch’s version of Fortnite under the same account. Those that try get a “Login Failed” message with a reasoning stating that “this Fortnite account is associated with a platform which does not allow it to operate on Switch.” The message continue to explain that no one can help you with this and you need to create a new account if you want to play it on the Switch. Dirty pool, Sony.

pic.twitter.com/dOSs2e8KaT

— Kyle Orland (@KyleOrl) June 14, 2018

As someone that has every system out there except the PlayStation 4, I linked my account with absolutely zero hassle and got into my first game within minutes of the game being dropped into the eShop. As they say: Bada bing, bada boom. Xbox UK even made light-hearted jokes about the cross-platforming and good-guy Larry Hryb, known to Xbox fans as Major Nelson, eased the crossplay capability with a Tweet to help. “If you plan on playing Fortnite on your Switch,” the Tweet said, “here is how you connect your Xbox Live account to your Epic account… And your progression & items purchased in game on Xbox One will appear on your Switch after your accounts are connected.” Very cool, Microsoft. You didn’t have to say a word, but you went above and beyond to help players and put difference side.

If you plan on playing @FortniteGame on your Switch here is how you connect your Xbox Live account to your Epic account https://t.co/djbyTNum23 And your progression & items purchased in game on Xbox One will appear on your Switch after your accounts are connected

— Larry Hryb @ E3 (@majornelson) June 13, 2018

But, on the other side of the fence, this isn’t the first time Sony didn’t want to play nice with the other kids. One year ago at E3 2017, Sony had backlash over two popular games that show up on several systems, Rocket League and Minecraft. Yes, that Minecraft. The one that has ports to such systems as Amazon Fire and Raspberry Pi, allowing crossplay between all of them with the “Better Together” update… except Sony. Rocket League lets players play against each other on all systems... except Sony. Although they can play the games together in matchmaking or dedicated servers, it masks the system they’re on, only letting people know that it’s not on their system and nothing really more. But, they’re playing together.

"But, think of the children," PlayStation cried out, "and our income!"

And yet, Sony sat in the corner, arms crossed, pouting to itself during E3 2017, claiming it’s for the children. Think of the children! “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,” said Jim Ryan, head of global sales and marketing for the PlayStation brand to Eurogamer in 2017. “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.”

Sorry, Sony, but child-friendly Nintendo even made that jump, why can’t you? To be fair, Nintendo has gotten really good at making those jumps in recent years, but Sony hasn’t even tried. Sony responded to the Fortnite debacle after the fans cried "foul play", but it was a lackluster non-response if anything. The BBC reported, “Sony has yet to confirm it is responsible for the constraint,” but Sony’s actual words do come off “tone-deaf”.

"We're always open to hearing what the PlayStation community is interested in to enhance their gaming experience," the statement said (according to the BBC). "With... more than 80 million monthly active users on PlayStation Network, we've built a huge community of gamers who can play together on Fortnite and all online titles. We also offer Fortnite cross-play support with PC, Mac, iOS, and Android devices, expanding the opportunity for Fortnite fans on PS4 to play with even more gamers on other platforms.”

"We have nothing further to add beyond this at this point," a spokeswoman for Sony chimed in.

During the Eurogamer interview in 2017, Jim Ryan also stated that they “have no philosophical stance against cross-play at all,” which is inherently true with openings like iOS and PC, but it’s noticeable who they leave out here by everyone. Aside from the fact that they mention Android, which isn’t even out yet (and they offer cross-play support for!), the only two systems they want to pick the feud with is Nintendo and Microsoft.

"Won't you be my neighbor?" Nintendo and Xbox asks Sony.

No, Sony. Bad Sony. If you were a dog, we’d be rubbing your nose in this right now. This is bad customer service. This is bad business. This is, also, the reason that the console wars still exist: arrogance, selfishness, and stubbornness. Do something for once for the good of the gamers on your systems, not wall off the competition to make a quick buck. This is your chance to redeem your actions at E3 2017 and gain support of new fans. Famously, Ronald Regan said it best in 1987 of the Berlin Wall: "Tear down this wall!" We agree.

In the meantime, Sony can learn a thing or two from Nintendo’s past and current positions. Even good ole Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has piped up from the controversy and their thoughts on Epic Games. "We embrace working with a developer and enabling them to bring their vision to life," Fils-Aime stated to IGN. "And whether that's Fortnite, whether that's a number of the other games that have cross-platform play on our console, from a developer standpoint that's what we want. And we work hard with them to bring that to life.”

Reggie finished off by telling PlayStation to do as they may, but Nintendo is taking the high road this time around, for the good of the gamers. “What competitors do is their decision to make,” he said. “We believe being both developer-forward and fan-forward is in the best interest of the game."

Prior to E3, I considered buying myself a shiny new PS4 Pro, but decided to wait until after the presentations to sway my opinions as a consumer. As we come into the end of E3 2018, I think Sony needs to get their act together before I jump on that bandwagon and hand them money. As someone that plays Rocket League and Fortnite, seeing this real barrier really turned me off of my hopes for Sony this year and that sucks because they really do have a fantastic lineup of current and upcoming games. And thus, the console war lives on and I’ve officially picked my sides with Nintendo and Xbox. Sorry, PlayStation, you lost a customer today.