Fortnite Bug Accidentally Allows Crossplay Between Xbox One And PS4, Promptly Disabled

The matter of crossplay has been a contentious issue within the video game community. The Xbox One, PC, and even the Nintendo Switch all allow intermingling of players with specific titles such as Minecraft. The only one that has refused thus far is Sony with its PlayStation 4. As a bug in the game Fortnite recently revealed, however, crossplay between the Xbox One and PS4 is more than possible.

For those who don’t know, Fortnite is basically a survival simulator wherein players need to build a sturdy shelter that can survive an attack once night falls. It’s a multiplayer coop game that would have been a perfect example of how crossplay can seriously up the fun factor for players. For a few hours, this was actually possible, Kotaku reports. Unfortunately, the feature was quickly disabled by Epic Games.

To be fair, Fortnite does allow players on the PC and PS4 platforms to play house, but that’s about it. As such, it came as shock to some owners of Sony’s console when they noticed that they could play with Xbox One gamers. Over at Reddit, a user with the handle PRE_-CISION-_ posted about his experience getting owned by a player with a space in their name. Upon researching the matter, he discovered that the player really did come from the Xbox One platform.

When asked about the issue, Epic Games responded to publishers by telling them that it was basically “a configuration issue,” one which has now been corrected. Basically, for a few brief moments, there was a shining gleam of hope that the warring factions of both gaming consoles can come together and be friends (or blast each other in the face). This is no longer the case.

Clearly, developers are playing it safe just in case Sony decides to finally play nice. Unfortunately, it seems this eventuality is still a long way off.