Fortnite cross-play now pools players differently on consoles and mobile

Updated March 13, 2019: The article has been updated to reflect that Fortnite players will still be able to play with their friends on other platforms and that the changes just mean they'll be pooled differently.

Fortnite is a free-to-play third-person shooter with building mechanics. The title has become a cultural sensation due to its unique blend of expressive gameplay. In February 2018, Epic Games stated that the title was played by roughly 3.4 million gamers concurrently. Since then, that figure has ballooned to over 8.3 million. It's unclear what the most recent count is, but all reports indicate that the game is going strong.

Recently, the developer announced that the Nintendo Switch version of Fortnite would feature cross-play between all platforms, even Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro, which feature 60 frames per second (FPS) modes. Unfortunately, the Switch only allows the game to run at 30 FPS. This gives players on the powerful hardware an advantage because not only are the controls much more responsive, but the added frames increase precision.

We've seen many users express concern about this, and Epic Games decided to modify cross-play a little. In the latest patch, Switch owners will be pooled with Android and iOS players. Additionally, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 owners will also be pooled together. This means that Switch owners should experience fairer matches because they're playing against people with a similar frame rate. Keep in mind that players opting out of cross-play are restricted to Creative Mode and Playgrounds. More details are covered in the patch notes provided by the developer.

There was some confusion earlier about whether this meant that Switch owners would be able to play with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 owners. Epic Games reached out to confirm that this was indeed the case, but the pooling changes would result "an on-average better per-game experience" for both mobile and Switch players.