Fallout 76 will not support cross-platform play because ‘Sony is not as helpful as everyone would like’

Bethesda Game Studios adds its name to the now long list of firms pointing an accusing finger at Sony for not supporting cross-platform play. In a interview with German publication GameStar, the studio’s director and executive producer Todd Howard said that despite his wish to implement console cross-play in Fallout 76, Sony is blocking the way.

"You cannot do cross-play in [Fallout] 76," Howard said. "We’d really love that but right now we can’t.” He was then asked why, to which he answered : "Sony is not as helpful as everyone would like but we’ll see what happens in the future.”

Fallout 76 was announced during Bethesda’s conference at E3, with the single-player franchise becoming an online multiplayer title with this new iteration. It will release on November 14th.

The Sony cross-play controversy was reignited when Fortnite released on Switch during E3, with gamers having previously played on PS4 asked to create a new account to be able to play on Switch, thus losing all previous progress. Sony released a statement about the issue, just saying it offered “Fortnite cross-play support with PC, Mac, iOS, and Android devices” and adding it had “nothing further to add beyond this at this point.” Microsoft and Nintendo also replied to the controversy, both reiterating their devotion to player-first cross-play policies. At the end of last week, PlayStation’s Shawn Layden suggested upcoming changes to PS4 Fortnite cross-play though.

Midia Research’s lead analyst Karol Severin recently told MCV why Sony’s decision about Fortnite makes strong business sense.