Back in September, Sony finally caved and started taking steps to finally allow true cross-play between the PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The main game at the center of this change is Fortnite, the overwhelmingly popular battle royale game. Due to cross-play finally being allowed, developer Epic Games stated that they would let players merge their accounts from different platforms together starting in November. As you can tell, we are at the end of the month and this feature has not been added yet.
Epic Games was aware of their silence surrounding this feature during its supposed month of release and have finally given us an update on it at the tailend of the month. Obviously, Fortnite account merging is not coming this November; instead, we can now expect to have the ability to merge our accounts “early next year.”
Technical concerns were cited as the main reason why this feature, which will allow players to “combine multiple console-linked accounts to transfer Battle Royale cosmetic item purchases, lifetime wins, V-Bucks, and Save the World campaign access,” was delayed. As account merging directly deals with purchases made with real money, Epic Games wants to ensure that it is well tested and as issue-free as possible before releasing it to the public.
For now, the highly requested feature does not have a more specific release window outside of early 2019, but Epic Games seems adamant that they will update us as soon as they have a solid date in mind. Account merging isn’t the only Fortnite-related thing to be delayed until next year, as the developers recently announced that the free-to-play version of Save the World isn’t coming until 2019 as well.
If you’re not one of the 200 million people who plays Fortnite, you shouldn’t have a hard time finding a platform to try it out on. The battle royale game is currently available for PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. If you’re a parent that just wants to know what the hell a Fortnite is, you can check out our Parents’ Guide for the game.