Lately, Microsoft has been quite expressive about its willingness of uniting PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. This merger, if materializes, would bring a seismic shift in the traditional approach of the console networks, where right now players can only play with other players if they are all using the same system. However, Sony has refused to play the ball. But it appears that a bug in Epic Games' Fortnite forced these two platforms to get along and it allowed the gamers to play the game together across consoles.
Over the weekend, a Fortnite player on PS4 spotted another player in the game, who had a "space" in his name instead of an "underscore" — this is practically impossible to do on PS4. After that when the PlayStation 4 user searched the name with space on his Xbox, he spotted the player in question. They also confirmed on the Reddit thread that the player owned the game on Xbox One and not on PC. Thus, it was clear that Xbox and PS4 players were playing the game together across consoles.
Following this incident, Eurogamer spotted a more definitive example of a father-son duo playing the on PS4 and Xbox One in the same room as each other. Since the game is so heavily focused on multiplayer and recently it has announced the "Battle Royale" mode, this could be a way for the game to keep its player count up when other AAA games begin to release this fall.
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According to Fortnite developer Epic Games, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players were indeed able to play together in the game, but that was a mistake. "We had a configuration issue and it has now been corrected," an Epic Games spokesperson said, reported Engadget. Now they are developing the walls again to separate the two ecosystems.
Fortnite is now available in "paid early access" for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac.
Microsoft has already made a deal with Nintendo for crossplay support in the Switch version of Minecraft. After signing into a Microsoft account through the game, players can freely explore and build structures with other players on almost every system.
