Earlier this week, Sony left people stunned by finally supporting PS4 cross-play for Fortnite. Sony had long pushed back against cross-platform gameplay and the announcement was the policy U-turn that many fans had been hoping for. The question of what it could mean for the industry is on everyone's lips. Everyone seems to be talking about the announcement, and that includes the PlayStation platform rival, Xbox.
After the official PlayStation Twitter account tweeted the news that PS4 now supports cross-play, the official Xbox UK Twitter account was quick to respond. Making use of a popular meme, the Xbox UK account suggested that PS4 cross-play is a more ambitious crossover event than even Avengers: Infinity War. Given that Infinity War features more than three dozen characters from several Marvel series, Sony is getting some effusive praise from Xbox here.
The tweet is a long way away from the Microsoft and Nintendo shade-throwing that people witnessed earlier in the year. Most notably, a new Minecraft trailer appeared to subtly criticize Sony's decision to block cross-play on its console, by saying that companies should "survive together." While it wasn't exactly Twitch-chat levels of brutal, the trailer did lead to a few fans calling Microsoft and Nintendo "savage."
The replies to the Xbox UK tweet indicate that fans are very happy to see the two companies working together. The top tweet response says "Glad to see mom and dad are talking again," and has 96 retweets and more than 1,000 likes. Another jokes, "The war is finally over, let this be the start of the peice [sic] between the two rival factions", while a tweet from Eidos Montreal senior community manager Sacha Ramtohul says, "This might just be the best take on this classic meme".
With the tensions between the two companies having cooled, many will now turn their attention to which games would benefit from full cross-play support. Fortnite is just the start, and Sony will be looking for additional third-party titles to join the line-up. Fallout 76 won't feature cross-play, so that's one game firmly ruled out but there are plenty of other candidates.
Again, the replies to the Xbox UK tweet have some suggestions. Popular choices include Grand Theft Auto 5, the Call of Duty series, and the FIFA franchise. It's unclear which game will be next to get cross-play support, but most are just delighted that their suggestions are now actually possible.
Source: Xbox UK – Twitter