Tim Sweeney, the head of Epic Games, thinks this way.

Epic is successful nowadays once again, and not just because of their Unreal Engine: Fortnite: Battle Royale is having a lot of players on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, although Sony’s console doesn’t allow their owners to play with those who own Microsoft’s console…

On GDC, Sweeney held a speech called the State of Unreal, and here, he also discussed the two rivals collaborating in the future. „If you buy a Fortnite item in the iOS store [Fortnite got a mobile port with the same map size as the console/PC version – the Android port is coming shortly – the editor], Sony and Microsoft honor it in their stores, That’s a great breakthrough for the industry. The dissolution of all barriers between gaming platforms will be one of the best things to ever happen to the console industry. Sony allowing PlayStation users to play with Xbox users is the next logical step. I think it’s inevitable now Games have become social experiences in the same way that Facebook or Twitter have, and these experiences only really make sense if gamers can communicate with all of their friends.

For Sony and Microsoft to support their customers well they have to be open to all their customer’s friends – their real-world friends – otherwise they’re breaking up real-world social groups. Like kids in school have their friends, and do you expect this platform schism to divide them into two separate groups that can’t play together? No. It’s got to come together now. That one remaining barrier will inevitably come down.” He also referred to Metcalfe’s law: the value of any connected experience for a user is proportional to the number of people they can connect to in real life.

Previously, Epic and Microsoft both expressed supporting cross-play. Only Sony tends to close itself behind doors…

Source: GamesIndustry