Fallout 76 will not support cross-play
Sony opened the door to Fortnite cross-play today, but Bethesda said it's not happening for the new Fallout.
Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard said earlier in the summer that the studio would love to have cross-platform play in Fallout 76, but "Sony isn't being as helpful as we want them to be" in making it happen. Today, Sony dropped a surprise announcement that it will allow Fortnite cross-play between the PS4 and other consoles. Could Fallout 76 also be a beneficiary of Sony's new spirit of openness and cooperation?
Sorry, no.
Folks, chill. I work with a lot of devs and games for whom this is important going forward. Fallout 76 does not support crossplay, for a number of reasons. I have no idea if it ever will. But I assure you it is not on our radar right now as we focus on B.E.T.A. and Launch.September 26, 2018
Hines has previously been somewhat blasé about Fallout 76 cross-play, telling Eurogamer in August that "it it would be nice if I could play on my Xbox and my kid is playing on his PC and we can play together, but if we can't, OK." Interestingly, he's taken a much firmer stance about having cross-play in The Elder Scrolls: Legends, saying at E3 that it's "essentially non-negotiable."
"We can't be talking about one version of Legends, where you take your progress with you, and another version where you stay within that ecosystem or its walled off from everything else," he said. "That is counter to what the game has been about."
Fallout 76 comes out on November 14. Preordering the game will get you into the beta (or B.E.T.A., for Break It Early Test Application, but I'm going to ignore that) which is set to take place in October.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.