Fortnite coming to Switch is welcome news, especially for those of you who have been wondering what all the fuss is about. However, if you've previously been enjoying the game on PS4 and wish to retain your progress and purchases when playing on Switch, we've got some bad news - there's currently no way of linking your existing account to both platforms.
When you play Fortnite for the first time you're asked to create an account with Epic Games which tracks all of your progress. On PS4 you can choose to not do this, and Epic simply creates a 'nameless' Epic Account which is associated with your PSN account. You can at any point upgrade this to a full Epic Account, but as long as the Account is linked with your PSN, there's no way of linking it with another system (such as Xbox Live or Switch).
Instead, you have to create an entirely new account for Switch, which means you lose all of your progress and purchases. Basically, if you're an existing PS4 Fortnite player and also own a Switch, you may need to pay for things like the Battle Pass twice over. Annoyingly, this issue doesn't exist if you're playing the game on iOS - it's perfectly possible to link your Epic Account with the game on iPhone as well as a PS4 console. UPDATE: We've since discovered that even if you completely disconnect your PSN account from your Epic Account, you still can't play the game on Switch - so don't try that, OK?
To reiterate: once your Epic / Fortnite account has been used on a PS4, you can NEVER use it on any other platform.
Who do we thank for this? Good old Sony, which has a rather draconian stance on cross-platform play. We've not confirmed it, but if you're an Xbox One Fortnite player then we assume you'll be fine sharing your progress between your Xbox and your Switch, as Microsoft has no problems with cross-platform gameplay.
As you can imagine, the news hasn't gone down well online.
Let us know if you've run into this issue by posting a comment below.
Comments 86
Standard. Good thing I never got into it.
typical sony........ have they announced their playstation swap yet? its like the switch but not quite.
So, Sony once again not really being "for the players" at all, then huh?
I saw someone on Twitter describing the wording as passive aggressive towards Sony and I think he got it spot on.
Never played this. Not sure what to make of it. Certainly seems like the free to start model has evolved somewhat but does it represent value for money and does playing for free give you a good experience? I’ll find out one day when I buy an SD card
Could be another sign of an incoming bout of corporate arrogance in the PlayStation ranks, as in 2005-07.
I've been reading everywhere that even if you unlink your PSN account you still can't use that Epic account on Switch.
I don't know why I had gotten my hopes up. Good ol' Sony being the worst platform for cross play. I'll still make a new account for Fortnite on Switch, but I'm done playing multiplayer games on my PlayStation until they get the stick out of their.
Was to be expected
They sure like isolating their customers from other brands eh?
It is disappointing. Most of us are multi platform gamers and this just limits us for no real reason.
It seems strange for Sony to pull this since PS4 players can cross play on Rocket League.
Hope they change their mind. Especially would be good if they listen to the fans.
I accidentally made a non-epic account linked to my switch and now i can't get rid of it
not that i really care, it's a bad port
People seem to be holding out hope that Sony is going to fix this but I doubt it. They really are one of the most immature companies. Terrified of losing their top spot so much so that they constantly betray their loyal fans.
Sony are deplorable disgusting creatures.
Gave up with Battle Royal as season 4 has been terrible, first battle pass I regret buying. All I play is PVE now and at 101 in Twine I was looking forward to maybe playing with my account on a handheld, I guess not.
Shame as the PVE grind is so bad (because season 4 of PVE has also been beyond awful) I was hoping I could put Netflix on the T.V while I went to work grinding out Perk Up.
Thankfully, I'll pretty much be able to keep my PS4 Battle Pass in perpetuity because you get enough V-Bucks early on to just buy next season's Battle Pass if you don't go spending in the item shop willy nilly. I'm gonna get a Battle Pass here next season. It's just way too late in the season for me to worry about it right now on the Switch/Xbox.
@Mew
Care to elaborate? I'm at work right now so I haven't played it on Switch yet, but I watched a bit of a stream and it seems to run and play as well as it does on PS4.
@NintendoFan4Lyf Is that really the case though? The Epic Games page makes it sound like you can un-link your PSN account from your Epic Account and link another platform (but you can't then play on the PS4).
@ThanosReXXX yeah because moves like this really has hurt them.
Sony can do what they want, they're the market leader. Nintendo and MS are just trying to get in where they fit in.
Sony is the market leader and they do this to protect their market share. It’s about keeping PlayStation on top.
Typical Greg Miller. Whiney lil soy boy with terrible taste in games
I know why Sony is doing this.
They are upset that both Snake and Cloud appeared in Smash while neither one bothered to show up for Sony's all-star mascot fighter.
Nintendo gets the big boys while Sony PSABR got...... Raiden and nobody else from Final Fantasy.
Sony is bitter that even Playstation mascots want to be in Smash.
Boooo...
That's why i have NO Respect with Sony anymore.
@Agent721
"Sony is the market leader"
For me, Sony is a Tyrant now.
@ThanosReXXX : Man, the "for the players" slogan is so cringe inducingly pretentious. I think it's rich of them to boast about that when so many of their big releases are nothing more than interactive movies (Hollywood movies at that).
I'm absolutely furious with Sony for being the instigator of this, but also quite annoyed with Epic for not making it clear when I linked our PSN ID to our Epic account that this locking would take place and we'd not be able to access progress or paid-for content on non-Sony platforms. The Epic web page on unlinking accounts prophesies doom and destruction should one take that path and says:
"Platform Locks on Fortnite cannot be circumvented, even by replacing one connected account with another."
I'm waiting to hear from someone who actually goes through the process of unlinking their PSN account, moving to Switch and seeing what's left intact afterwards.
@Caryslan Well Sony and PC have this thing called Final Fantasy 7 Remake, I hear Cloud might be in that and it might be a big deal.
@Yorumi its completely legal, sony just happens to be the main one doing it.
@HugoStiglitz_420
Actually agree to an extent about Greg Miller. Dude is as fake as it gets with his 'nice guy' act.
But to the real issue. Last gen Sony was open to cross-platform and MS (which had a huge lead over PS3 in the U.S.) wasn't, so I get why those two won't play nice, but there really should be no issue with Nintendo. Nintendo is in a unique position where it doesn't seem either of its two competitors take it seriously anymore and view it as most 'hardcore' gamers in the internet community do. As a nice secondary option. So, I get not wanting to open the doors of cross-play to MS, but Sony should talk to Nintendo and Epic and figure out how to get this cross-play with Switch.
I have my Epic account attached to my XBox and PS4, at 10pm tonight I will disconnecting my PSN account and connecting my Switch account.
PC/Xbox/Switch crossplay FTW.
@gatorboi352 If you truly think that, then you don't understand the full picture. Regardless of being a market leader or not, in ANY industry, you always need to take care not to alienate any potentially interesting market.
There''s a HUGE benefit into allowing players from other consoles cross-play with your own target audience. It markets Sony as more user-friendly, might even sway a few thousand more Nintendo and Microsoft only gamers towards them, and on the other side of the coin, there's only bad marketing, and Sony blocking yet another game from cross-play. I do believe that makes it about four or five games already, if it isn't more.
No, this really isn't helping anyone, Sony included, and their excuse for not wanting to do it, which up til now was "wanting to protect their core audience", is complete and utter BS.
@Silly_G Yep, it most certainly is. I'm actually still baffled to this day, that Sony was allowed to keep the Spider-man IP, after the complete crap that was the aborted Andrew Garfield trilogy.
The new movies are slightly better, but ideally, all Marvel content should be under direct control of Disney/Marvel itself, and not spread across the likes of Sony and Fox...
Sony slipping back into the old PS3 ways.
So that's why I cant use my account. Bullcrap. Eff off.
Oh boy the corporate apologists are in full force tonight. Thanks for reminding us of who the market leader is, too bad you don't see any of that money and you're just corporate stooges cheerleading for a company that doesn't give a damn about you
This happened to me and when I realized what happened I actually raged. I went around punching things because I’ve been waiting so long for one of my favorite games to come to my favorite console and not I can’t do that because I started playing Fortnite on PS4. I wish I had gotten an Xbox instead👎🏽🤕🤬🤬🤯🤯😡😡
@Richnj I don’t think that will work because if you have at any point connected your account with PlayStation then it won’t work on switch. I also tried disconnected from PlayStation and it still didn’t work
@Menchi187 they do? When? In 2025? Are you off your meds again?
@Mymy63 I'll be super pissed if that's the case, though I haven't actually downloaded or started Fortnite on my PS4 yet. SO I'm staying hopeful just now.
Just stop buying games on PlayStation. Easy solution.
And I have. The only thing I buy on PlayStation anymore is exclusives. I sold my entire game collection and re-purchased on the Xbox One. Not only because they look and run better on that machine, because Xbox actually allows cross play with Switch.
@Anti-Matter
They’re surely acting like it.
@Richnj I really hope that that is the case. Good luck!🤞🏽
@JaxonH
I do the same.
My PS4 is a glorified Netflix/Youtube powerhouse... only play on my switch now, they can keep their little club to themselves while the rest of us play nicely witg each other
@gortsi Yes they will have it, as per the announcement of it.
If I had an account linked with my PS4 and didn't already use my PS4 only to watch movies, this would be a great way to ensure I'd un-link my account and stop buying games for the system.
It's like the cross-platform of Rocket League, Sony locked it out, while the developers said it was as easy as ticking a box to enable it.
Very poor behaviour from Sony. They need to cut that out.
@Spudworthy 30fps, questionable resolution. at first glance sure it's pretty close but 30 doesn't really cut it for a game as competitive as this one, and rez is important too
@Menchi187 it's nice you believe in vaporware. Do you also believe in fairies?
@Mymy63 On the Epic website I've disconnected PSN and connected Switch. So far so good.
It’s a good thing my ps is for the 1-2 single player games each year and that I don’t pay for ps+ anymore.
I just got home and will be trying fortnite finally.
I noticed this when I tried playing this morning, unless I create a new email address I can't play Fortnite on Switch.
It let me login but it started me all over
@NintendoFan4Lyf yup, a few ppl on reddit saying the same (after having gone through this previously and unlinking a PSN ID to try and play on Xbox). Once your Epic account has been linked to PSN it can never be used on Xbox or Switch. Utterly ridiculous...
Sure Sony doesn't want to get in bed with Nintendo again after the whole Play Station debacle.
Yeah have your significant other cheat on you behind your back and when you find out see if you ever want to do anything with them again.
@Tasuki Sure. That's what it is.
Bad sportsmanship.
The snake has reared it's dirty little head out of the bag once again. No more multiplayer on PS4 for me anymore. Market leader or not, this is wrong. If this were the real world instead of the game world, Sony would be committing treason.
Thanks for speaking out Greg! As a PS4 owner, I'll be disconnectingy profile from psn immediately so that I can use switch only.
@Sanquine it's fine to be a Sony bootlicker. But don't go and talk s@@t on another website as if nobody will find out, be a man and tell us what you really think
Edit: and no, I am not pissed, unless we're talking about corporate apologists. But you'd know more about that than I do.
Sony has so many amazing effing games coming out that doing stuff like this is so effing small of them. No cross-play...ok whatever...but account denials, wtf.
@NinjaWaddleDee don't do that! You'll lose all your progress and it still won't work. Once you've linked a PSN ID to an Epic account, even if you unlink it, it will never be able to be used on an Xbox or Switch.
@Damo really needs to update his original post to make this clear or ppl are gonna lose their poop...
I've played Fornite on my Mac for a while, even though it runs horribly and unlocked some things. A while ago I linked my Sony account to my Epic account for no reason, but never played the game on the PS4, but was really looking forward to getting to play it on my Switch. Really pissed off I can't get my progress from my computer and can't be bothered to set up a new account. F* that.
Edit.: I disconnected my Sony account from my Epic account and checked Fortnite on my computer and my progress was still there, but of course it still doesn't let you play on the Switch.
Sony has no problem with cross-play...if its between PS4/PC. Any console-console cross-play for Sony and its "but oh no...for da kiddies!" and they lock it off. Everyone knows exactly how simple it would be to enable it, but Sony has to control their userbase and lock them into their service alone. I think in the end its only going to cost them some extra customers.
This move just shows plainly that Sony is scared stupid of the Switch. More embarrassing than anything really.
When your only answer to a challenge is as overbearing, controlling and uninspired as this rather than to seek your own innovation/incentive it just shows that they have nothing worthwhile.
Glad my home only console is a PC.
Are we surprised?
@gortsi
You’re the one talking about deplorabele and disgusting creatures. I dont comment often here as the environment is toxic over here. Have a nice day !
Greg Miller's Tweet pretty much summed up everything perfectly.
@Sanquine go see an ophthalmologist because you clearly have sight issues. And yeah it's the fanboys from other sites that make this place toxic on occasion but overall it hasn't been overrun by bootlickers and SDFers
@gortsi comment #16 damn you are right. It was dumdum. I mixed up the images you two have. SDF ? Other sites ? Please explain because at pushsquare its far less toxic than over here.
@Sanquine that's your opinion. In my opinion PS is toxic from top to bottom, starting with their editors and their snarky comments in the comments section.
Understandable. Nintendo is always against linking to other platforms. Now they get their taste of their own medicine.
This is ファッキン ridiculous, especially since it works for all other consoles except the Switch. I think the audience who played this on PS4 would rather keep playing on Sony's console instead of having to delete their entire account. Disconnecting your PSN account doesn't even seem to work for some people, which just makes this even worse.
@WiteWulf Updated. I was doing this thing called "sleeping after working all day on the site". Hope that's cool with you
@Damo fine by me, you need your beauty sleep more than most
Curiously the /r/PS4 has gone absolutely balistic on this topic overnight, but barely anyone on /r/NintendoSwitch seems to be bothered. I'm guessing the latter have Switch as their primary/only games platform and the former have Switch in addition to PS4?
@ThanosReXXX
It starts with an F but it's not "for"
Thanks to Sony's behavior on cross-play, if they keep it up into the next generation I probably won't get a PS5. Simple as that.
Good riddance! I'm utterly DISGUSTED that nintendo even considered adding fortnite to switch.
@Rhaoulos Yeah, something like that...
@ThanosReXXX
I was thinking like this lately.
After i knew Sony was soooo.... arrogant about blocking Fortnite account, i was thinking i want to replace my Whole ps4 games & my ps4 slim with a White Xbox One and same games as i owned from ps4 (Surprisingly, there is one game shop at my place displayed a White Xbox One with Minecraft bundle for sale). I felt disgust even more with Sony's attitude, so i can jump out from ps4 to xbox one if it necessary. Do you think my plan is a good idea, to tell you if i owned xbox one it will be pretty frustrating for Online connection and download streaming since it connected to USA server and i live in Indonesia, part of Asian region ?
Oh, pardon if talked stupid again.
@Anti-Matter I think you should not sell or throw away a console based upon a decision made in anger. If the PS4 has the titles for you, and you cannot find those on the Xbox One, then it wouldn't be smart to exchange the PS4 for the Xbox One.
And as you have so often mentioned, Microsoft doesn't offer you the type of games that you want. So, cool down, let the dust settle, and when your head is clear again, think it over once more.
If you're still disappointed with Sony after that, then first do some research on the amount of titles that come out on the Xbox One that you might like, and if there's enough of them to make it worth it to buy the console, then do so. If not, just stick with the PS4.
Never throw something away if you don't know if the thing you will get in return is going to be enough for you.
But the internet connection shouldn't be a problem. If it works on your PS4 and on any PC or laptop you might have, then it'll also work just fine on an Xbox One, so that shouldn't have to be an issue.
@Anti-Matter do it man. Sony is evil.
@henmii,, but Nintendo did not ask to cross play with other systems. they agreed to do it. Nintendo also had seen the error of their ways. Can Sony say the same?
@ThanosReXXX
Actually i still have a great fond with The Sims 4 on PS4 and other PS4 games from PS2 Remastered (FF X/X-2 , FF XII, KH 1.5 + 2.5). I had spent a lot of money to find the Best color for my ps4 (White) , bought my PS4 games in USA region (USA region PS4 games are very rare in my place to be sold due to tons of Region 3 PS4 games sold in Indonesia and most Indonesian gamers really looking for Region 3 PS4 games, so i bought from playasia to get USA version PS4 games) , asked my local game shop owner to update my ps4 games before playing, even though i bought it with Half-hearted feeling. I also had played Portal Knights PS4 version since last June 2017, so it build my hype about Portal Knights from ps4 version first.
After hearing your advice, i think i should keep my ps4 despite i still upset with Sony's attitude. Thanks anyway for the advice.
@Anti-Matter No problem, you're welcome.
I think part of this stems from Sony just being gun shy after the "Great PSN hack of 2011". They're very paranoid that by giving access to player's info or allowing some other device to communicate with their customer's PSN accounts, that somehow it'll come back to bite them. Also, it most definitely has a lot to do with Sony being in a position of power this generation and being a bit snobby. I personally don't play Fortnite but I know over 40 million people do and a lot of them are multi-console owners. So I think the right thing for Sony to do would just be to allow cross-platform support, but I doubt they will.
What if I use one day my account on PS4 ?
I have made my account on PC, I used it on Switch, but what if one day I log in a PS4, will my account be locked on PS4 ?
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