Epic Games has confirmed that the PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles will feature cross-platform play and cross-gen play. The developer announced that its battle royale smash Fortnite will be coming to the new consoles, and that the game will "support cross-play across all platforms, including current and next-generation consoles."
The title was the first cross-platform game between Microsoft and Sony's consoles and set a milestone for the industry, and it's positive to see that the standard is going to carry on to the next-gen hardware. The fact that Fortnite's cross-play will encompass all platforms and console generations will also be fantastic news for players.
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Epic also teased some next-gen features for the game on the new systems, saying:
"While we can’t share specifics at the moment, more powerful hardware will allow us to improve performance and visuals."
Epic was keen to point out that it'll be the "same Fortnite you know and love," but will be optimised to "take advantage of the new hardware and features on next-gen consoles." Those optimisations include improved visuals and performance, but there are likely next-gen specific
That doesn't mean that current-gen players will get left behind; the developer said it plans to "continue support for existing platforms in tandem" with its support for next-generation consoles. The studio added that in terms of gameplay progression, it will "support cross-progression across console generations and platforms so that your account, progression, and items carry over."
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So if you're a console player who doesn't have plans to make the leap to PS5 or Xbox Series X for a little while post-launch, you can rest assured that the version of the game you're playing is going to be supported for the foreseeable future, and that you'll be able to easily transition over to a next-gen platform when you're ready.
If you're an early adopter and get a console at launch, you'll be able to dive into Fortnite straightaway, but it won't be the full next-gen experience right off the bat.
Epic has confirmed that Fortnite will be coming to next-gen consoles at launch but it will be the version of the game built with Unreal Engine 4. It will be migrated to Unreal Engine 5 in mid-2021.
You can get a glimpse of what Unreal Engine 5 will be capable of in this jaw-dropping PS5 demo!
via: Epic Games
