Phil Spencer Wants Xbox/PlayStation Cross Platform Play in Fortnite

It looks like the ball is in Sony’s court when it comes to cross-platform play in Fortnite between the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. According to Phil Spencer, he’s keen on the idea of cross-platform functionality between the rival consoles.  Spencer’s comment comes after a couple of announcements regarding cross-platform play for Fortnite.

The pair of announcements detailed cross-platform play between the PlayStation 4, Mobile, and PC.  While a second announcement detailed cross-platform play between the Xbox, Mobile, and PC.

When a fan asked Spencer about cross-platform play on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the Xbox boss had this to say:   “We really want cross-play system between XB1 and PS4,” said a fan on Twitter.  Which Spencer responded, “Me 2.”  The official Fortnite account chimed in “We 3.”   Though Sony has yet to add anything.

Right now, it’s unclear what the hold up is on cross-platform play between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, other than that it’s a business decision by Sony.

It does look like the cross-platform play could arrive for games like Fortnite, Minecraft, Rocket League, or any number of multiplayer games already released or yet to arrive — but only when Sony gives the go ahead.

Last year we saw a similar conversation about cross-platform play taking place.  At the time, Microsoft had seemingly extended an invitation to Sony to which they declined.  Jim Ryan called it a “business decision” by the company claiming a “responsibility to our install base,” citing Minecraft’s young demographic and the need to protect the children.

At this point, of course Microsoft wants cross-platform play between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles.  The PlayStation 4 has proven to be more popular than the Xbox One when looking at worldwide sales, and cross-platform play in multiplayer titles would do nothing but help Microsoft.  It’s hard to see where Sony benefits from having cross-platform play between the PlayStation and Xbox other than being “good guy Sony” and doing something that is consumer friendly.