Fortnite comes to Switch, though with slightly limited cross-platform play

The free-to-play game Fortnite Battle Royale has been announced and simultaneously released for the Nintendo Switch.

This marks the sixth platform for Epic’s massively popular last-man-standing romp, though notably the Switch version, like the Xbox One version before it, will feature cross-platform play with everything but the PlayStation 4. 

Like most of the Fortnite versions before it, the Nintendo Switch release allows players to compete or team up with people that might be playing the game on PC, Xbox One, MacOS, or mobile. The PlayStation 4 is still excluded from participating in cross-platform play with other consoles.

According to a tweet from Epic Games’ Nick Chester, the Switch now joins the Xbox One on the short list of Fortnite platforms that won’t be able to link up with the PlayStation 4 version of the game. Players on the PlayStation 4, meanwhile, are still able to join up with those playing on PC, MacOS, or mobile while fellow consoles like the Xbox One and Switch are left out in the cold. 

Additionally, it now looks like players that have associated their Epic Games account with an incompatible Fortnite platform, seemingly the PlayStation 4 according to at least one tweet, cannot link that same account with the Switch version of the game. Attempting to do so results in a failed login and a suggestion to create a new account to play the Switch version of the game.