No Fortnite PS4 cross-play because 'PlayStation is the best place to play'
It's all about the user experience, says Sony CEO, UPDATE: Xbox says "Sony isn't listening to gamers"
ORIGINAL STORY 03/09/2018: Sony's new CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has waded into the row over cross-platform play with PS4.
The firm received some negative press during E3 on its refusal to enable PS4 Fortnite owners to play alongside gamers on other platforms. The firm does allow cross-platform play on some games with PC, but currently does not enable its PS4 user base to compete with Xbox or Nintendo fans. This has become an issue with certain consumers as both Nintendo and Xbox do allow such functionality.
Speaking at the IFA Technology Show in Germany, Yoshida said (as reported by The Independent): "On cross-platform, our way of thinking is always that PlayStation is the best place to play. Fortnite, I believe, partnered with PlayStation 4 is the best experience for users, that's our belief.
"But actually, we already opened some games as cross-platform with PC and some others, so we decide based on what is the best user experience. That is our way of thinking for cross-platform."
PlayStation is likely protecting its own userbase by not enabling cross-play with Xbox or Nintendo, but that has given its competitors an angle in which to attack the market leader. This was most notable with a Minecraft video that was produced to showcase Nintendo and Xbox owners playing together.
However, data obtained by GamesIndustry.biz suggests that gamers, on the whole, don't care too much about cross-platform play.
UDPATE 04/09/2019: Microsoft's corporate vice president Mike Ybarra has responded to Yoshida's comments via Twitter, maintaining the platform holder's stance on cross-play between platforms.
Responding to a Twitter reply later, he added: "Larger gaming audience who wants to play together. Gaming is diverse, if you only serve to bring joy to part of an audience then you are behind in many, many ways."
Microsoft has been banging the cross-play drum fairly hard since E3 after Fortnite connected the audiences on Xbox and Switch. The two platform holders even launched a joint marketing campaign to demonstrate this.