
Fortnite has finally landed on Nintendo Switch, and with an absolutely huge caveat: you can't play it using your Epic account if you've EVER played Fortnite on PS4.
To be absolutely clear, there are no work arounds whatsoever. Even if you unlink your PS4 from your Epic Games account, you still won't be able to play using that account on Nintendo Switch. Not now, not ever.
That leaves you with a single option: creating a brand new Epic Games account for Nintendo Switch, and leaving all of your PS4 progress behind you whenever you want to take it on the go. That is the only option available to you if you've ever played Fortnite on PS4.
In this guide, we're going to help you get set up with your new Epic account, and troubleshoot a few problems you might be facing given the constraints. If you have any problems not detailed in this guide, please ask away in the comments and we'll include the most frequently asked questions in this guide.
Fortnite Switch - How To Play If You've Played Before On PS4
If you've ever played Fortnite on PS4, you can no longer use that Epic account to play on Nintendo Switch. Unlinking the PS4 account with your Epic Games account makes absolutely no difference, so we'd strongly advise against doing it as you could lose vital progress.
Instead, your only option is to create a new account entirely. You can do this on your Nintendo Switch itself when you first boot up Fortnite, or you can do so on the official Epic Games site.
I Linked My Switch To My PS4 Fortnite Account, And I Can't Log In On Switch - What Do I Do?
Don't panic – we had this problem ourselves, and it's actually a simple fix. If you try and login to Fortnite on Switch, you'll receive an error message and there is no way to log out and try another account.
What you need to do is head on over to the 'Connected' section of your Epic Games account, and unlink the Nintendo Switch from your account. This will then let you create a new account either on the Switch itself or on the official Epic Games site. Repeat the first section of this guide to learn more.
How Can I Play With My Original Fortnite Username On Switch If I've Played On PS4 Before?
Create a new account on Nintendo Switch and give it whatever username you can think of at the time. Then, sign into your PS4 Epic Games account on the official site, head into the account section, and change your username to anything. Save it, then log out and log in to your Nintendo Switch account. You should now be able to change your username to your preferred original username.
Bear in mind though that you can't change this username again on either account for two weeks, so make sure you're sure before you go ahead with this.
Have you got any further questions regarding your Fortnite account? Need help with anything else? Ask away in the comments section below.
Comments (51)
The fact that this needs to be a guide bothers me.
Gotta love Sony.
@Joeynator3000 Judging by their console sales I would say so.
@Knuckles-Fajita It definitely registers as one of the most bizarre guides I’ve ever written!
User names...and here I hoped the ability to change user name on PSN would be revealed at E3. Nope!!
Quote Start:
”To be absolutely clear, there are no work arounds whatsoever. Even if you unlink your PS4 from your Epic Games account, you still won't be able to play using that account on Nintendo Switch. Not now, not ever.”
Quote End.
Comment: Any reasons why?
This is so dumb, there is no good reason for why this is an issue. Cross play is one thing, but this? Ugh.
This really detracts from playing on Switch, I downloaded at lunch, but probably won't play now. Since I've bought a couple game passes on my mostly PC played version that I had played on PS4 first before only rarely playing it on either version. It's too bad, this is probably only going to possibly attract new players, which due to the games popularity there will be less of those.
@Nintendoforlife Judging by their console sales, people don't know what they're doing with their life.
That is a real weener move by Sony. Like an impressively low blow. I have never played before but I imagine this is gonna upset a lot of people.
Shame on Sony. Very selfish of them.
Pretty lame on Sony 's part making this a bigger pain than it should be. Oh well, Fortnite on Switch is cool regardless.
@zip Answer: Sony
and i put $5 into the account linked to the ps4 version
So...let me get this straight, I play on pc but because I also linked my ps4 I can't use it on switch?
@starman292 correct. Any account linked to PS4 seems to have this issue.
I only play it on PC. First used my Google account on Switch to verify and later with my Straight Epic account on both. And they work great.
I was going to uninstall on my PC but if I can use them both, on the same account - I'll keep it as is. It is like CrossBuy on PC 🤣
Every online Switch/PC game should work this way. This is all on SONY
I can’t see this ending well for Sony. Especially in a day an age where consumers are just so sick and tired of corporations treating them like money cows. Pretty glad my home console is a PC.
I have no idea how to play this game or what I'm supposed to be doing 😆. Running across a huge map smashing stuff up then dying while caught in a storm and starting over again. Needs some form of tutorial for new players that have paid no attention to it until now. I can't be the only one 🙄
Touch of Death, indeed...
Sony, you may want to reconsider this.
@PlayedNSlayed Thanks for sharing your experience. I think I'll let that be my tutorial and just skip the game. 😊
@PlayedNSlayed Thanks for sharing your experience. I think I'll let that be my tutorial and just skip the game. 😊
Well I hope this is an error and not intended!
Especially the fact that you need to go to your Epic account on another device to unlink it from the Switch if you accidentally tried to register with a "tainted" account. It's so stupid and will put off many people.
Or is this connected with some reason, like making sure all players on Switch start at the same level or something?
Look at Sony being the party poppers.
I still curious.
If i have NEVER played Fortnite at all on PS4, but i have PSN account , will i still unable to play Fortnite Switch version Online ?
To be clear: I could link my account to Switch and it was prevously linked to my PSN account.
Keyword is linked. I’ve never PLAYED Fortnite on PS4 (thank God!)
@Matthewxcv
Used to be i considered Microsoft was a party popper between Nintendo vs Sony, now by judging Sony's attitude, i agree if Sony is a party popper between Nintendo and Microsoft.
@Anti-Matter If you have NEVER played Fortnite and logged into your Epic account on Fortnite, then you will be fine.
You use your Epic account for Cross platform play between PC, Switch, Xbox One and Mobile. The moment you log in on your PS4 Fortnite and link your account, then this happens:
It is at that point you would need to make a NEW Epic account.
Short version - Have one Epic account for PC, Switch, Xbox, mobile but make ANOTHER Epic account if you ever intend to play Fortnite on PS4
@PlayedNSlayed from my understanding, the battle royale mode was added later. Perhaps the original “Save the World” Mode (which isn’t in this version) had a tutorial?
My experience with this title is similar, I downloaded it today figuring as much as I tend to get annoyed with the Battle Royale hype, I should give one a try since it’s a free download, so I got it off the Switch eShop. After I navigated the barebones menu and started the game, I spawned someplace in front of a bunch of stuff, and before I could figure out what was going on suddenly I was flying in something? I jumped out, parachuted down, and wandered around for awhile, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do now. All I had was a pickax and by the time I started finding cheats, they all were empty. Eventually I found a pistol at the edge of the map, a supply box dropped near me, I quickly picked it all up before anyone could come take them, I had no idea what the stuff was or how to use it, I found another person and tried to shoot them but my bullets kept going through them, someone I couldn’t see started shooting me, and I died. All in all it was a very confusing 15 minutes and I didn’t really have fun or any sort of urge to try it again. A tutorial would’ve been nice at least.
I only played a bit of the early access alpha on PS4. (You know, the one where Epic banned people who found bugs in it?) But I guess I have an account made for it. Crap. Guess I'll have to use my other email or something.
I skipped creating a Epic Account on first load up, picked a display name played a few games, read I had to finalize creating my Epic Account to fully use crossplay
WHen I clikc the Switch logo to sign in on EpicGames it auto polulates the display name I choose earlier I fill in the other required fields and it says "you cant change your name for 14 days" ...but I am not trying to change it since it auto populated it for me with the only display name Ive had on the Switch
@Hamguar
Sorry, man, but players will not abandon Sony over this. Absolutely no way. They'll complain for awhile, but people require a great deal of discomfort before they'll budge. Sony knows it and doesn't give two fleeps about how players feel. They're trying to keep Nintendo out of their domain--especially since they're fierce rivals in Japan--and they won't make any move that benefits Nintendo. Period.
And I guarantee it will not hurt their sales one iota. Not even a smidge. The only people at Sony that will suffer is the team that handles their Twitter and Facebook accounts.
@ShadJV
@PlayedNSlayed
Yep, I had never played it as well, I downloaded it, I ran around aimlessly in utter confusion until a storm came and killed me. Tried it one more time and the exact same thing happened. That's 15 minutes of my life wasted
@AirElephant Sony is either going to budge, or they are going to pay heavily in users and finances. This isn't some random game people are upset over. This is the biggest phenomenon in recent gaming history. Fortnite is huge. It's constantly in the news.... Not gaming news, but local broadcast stations, national news, news papers. I got kids running around my neighborhood with toy guns playing "Fortnite". Public schools are discussing Fortnite at their meetings, because students are clogging up the schools wifi playing Fortnite.
I don't really care about the game. I played it for the first time today and it wasn't my thing. You might not care enough to be upset... But straight up, there will be enough people who do care enough, and will take a stand. It will hurt Sony if they don't stomp this out fast and beg for forgiveness from fans.
It used to be Nintendo screwing over customers like this, now it's Sony...
That really sucks, but I don't see myself playing it again anyway. I bought the $5 starter pack or whatever on PS4 and played for a few hours, but it never really clicked with me.
Though I did have fun in my last round where I planted a bunch of loot inside a building and ambushed the people who inevitably went for them. I managed to get to 8th place doing that.
This is just all about keeping people playing on PS4. Sony knows that the people that have invested significant time and money in to the account linked to PS4 won’t abandon that just to play on Switch.
Guess it’s a good thing the game is free, I know I would be hella outraged if I paid money for the game only to find out my account was locked on another platform.
The game is not my cup of tea I played on PC and didn’t enjoy it, but there is no denying its popularity, so Sony knows what they are doing.
@AirElephant Yup. PS4 has way too many good exclusives this generation. It's the sole reason why PS4 is doing so well.
Sony really nailed it this generation with awesome games.
I have all consoles, including the Xbox One X, but the only reason I bought it is for the 4K Bluray player.
Microsoft really dropped the ball with lack of first party titles and the endless delays with them.
@SaturnHero yeah just seemed like a time waster for me. The Switch has managed to get me into some online games finally (such as Splatoon, Arms, and even with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe), I never was into online gaming... but the matches in this felt too long with little payoff and too much chaos... but scattered chaos, I had to run around before finding the chaos. And perhaps a tutorial would’ve given me enough direction that I’d have begun to appreciate it... but as it stands, it failed to catch my interest and I have many more games that do.
An important thing for devs to notice about free to play games is players are quicker to abandon them. And I don’t mean because players who wouldn’t normally be interest in them try and leave (which of course does happen), I mean players who even enjoy the style of game. Part of it is that players will generally do more research before a game purchase than before trying a free game. But it’s also psychological - if a player paid $60, or even $20, for a game, they’re much more likely to stick around to get their money’s worth. If it’s free, there’s less of that attachment, it was just a free game. This means if the dev wants players to stick around (and therefore shell out real money), it’s in them to hook the player pretty quick. Some games are quite skilled at this. In this case, I don’t feel it was, I think it’s more likely to work if you have friends who play who can get you into it but I don’t really have that. And the lack of the tutorial just made it too confusing to enjoy.
A few people online told me I need to give it more of a chance. Why? I tried it, I didnt care, why invest more time into it when I can play one of the many games I already like? We as consumers don’t have a responsibility to play a game enough to fully “appreciate” it, it’s the developers who are trying to make money from it and it’s their responsibility to make it an enjoyable experience. If the game wasn’t intuitive enough and lacked any initial direction, it’s them that loses out, I have plenty of stuff making an effort to keep my interest.
First time I ever played the game. I really don't get the hype at all :/
Man, I can understand that Sony doesn't want crossplay. But give the option to players if they want to play on another platform.. What a dirty trick. Imagine you spent $500 on the game and then can't even transfer your data to another platform.
Sony does what Nintendo use to do
If we use an Epic PC account where we are friends with PS4 accounts and then we link this Epic PC account with a Switch and play on Switch with it. Of course we won't be able to play with our PS4 friends. But then can we play with them again when we go back on PC? This is a mess. Thanks Sony...
@PlayedNSlayed this! took me a while to figure out wtf was going on, I got one kill though so thats a start...
LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH
Thank God I never downloaded it on PS4. Downloaded and deleted it on PC but I at least have the option to use it both places should I want to.
Well tjhis tiny negative aside why is nobody mentioning that it works with Native voice chat no app required.
@YANDMAN We are.
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/06/heres_how_voice_chat_works_in_fortnite_on_nintendo_switch
All I did was use a different email I use the same screen name and all other details remained the same my PS4 account and my Nintendo account are identical apart from the email yes you can’t carry your progress over but doesn’t really matter unless you have spent a fortune on items on PS4 can’t see many people wanting to do that
@AlexOlney I hope you credit me.
@YANDMAN I hope you're joking, as this was posted half a day before your comment.
@AlexOlney Of course i'm joking, i'm not shallow enough to care about being credited with such things.
Sony just don’t want to play ball. Glad that we can have normal voice chat now! So lets ditch the crap app
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