Sony talks cross-play: ‘Fortnite on PS4 is best for users’

The ongoing question of whether or not Sony will open up the PS4 to allow cross-play between systems in Fortnite might not have been answered definitively just yet – but it came close to being.

At the IFA technology show – currently ongoing over in Berlin – Sony chief executive Kenichiro Yoshida made a statement one could safely assume means we won’t be seeing Fortnite cross-play on PS4 any time soon.

“On cross-platform, our way of thinking is always that PlayStation is the best place to play,” he said, according to the Press Association, “Fortnite, I believe, partnered with PlayStation 4 is the best experience for users, that’s our belief.”

Yoshida’s statement didn’t write off cross-play entirely, and there are already titles on PS4 that can be played with and against people who own completely different formats. So it sounds like this is something decided upon on a case by case basis.

“We already opened some games as cross-platform with PC and some others,” he said, “So we decide based on what is the best user experience. That is our way of thinking for cross-platform.”

Never say never, of course – it would be a nice bit of positive PR if Sony did open its borders to foreign console traffic on Fortnite – but for the time being it looks like the platform holder wants to keep Nintendo and Microsoft at arms’ length.

“I think competition is always good,” Yoshida said, “Healthy, fair competition is always good for the industry and growth… I think competition with Nintendo and Xbox is a healthy situation.”