Why Sony allowing crossplay is a big deal

Sony has finally had a change of heart.

For months, Sony has dominated gamer headlines for one reason: their refusal to allow crossplay. With Fortnite being the number one game in the world available on nearly every platform, gamers were eager to jump on play with their friends. They could create one account, sign in on multiple devices, and start playing...except for PlayStation owners. An account created on the PlayStation would only work on a PlayStation, and those users could only play with PlayStation players. While Switch, Xbox, iOS, and now Android users could enjoy universal play with others, the PlayStation users remained stuck in their personal world.

Now that is about to change.

Sony has announced Beta testing for crossplay in both Fortnite and other popular game Minecraft; the world of crossplay is (somewhat) complete. Users that have created accounts on PlayStations need no longer create a seperate account for their phones and vice versa. Soon enough, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch owners will be able to happily play Fortnite together!

But why does this matter?

Well, we are finally beginning to see the age of full crossplay. Remember asking if someone had Madden so you could play against each other? Now, remember the disappointment when they said they have it for Xbox while you have a PlayStation? We could soon be seeing the beginning of the end of that disappointment. While this is simply allowing Fortnite and Minecraft to finally play together, this could be the first step in a gaming evolution.

Call of Duty 4, recently detailed and released for Beta, the battle royale mode included in the game; do you think those users are not going to want to play together? In the past, it was not possible due to Xbox Live versus PlayStation network restrictions. Obviously, there is still this problem. With games like Fortnite and Minecraft requiring individual accounts on the specific developers server, other games are online capable based on Live/Network ID; this means that the restrictions are still in place. However, it does provide an entry point in to showing what true cross-platform play can look like.

Have we reached the point where all gamers can play each other on any platform in any game? Of course not. However, this small secession from Sony provides the hope we need in a future of universal crossplay with all of our friends on any platform. The future is looking bright for gamers everywhere,