E3 2018: PlayStation gamers locked out of Fortnite for Nintendo Switch

Nintendo announced yesterday that popular multiplayer game Fortnite is now available for Switch console owners - but some fans are saying otherwise.

Revealed during the company’s conference at the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, the Nintendo Switch version of Epic Games’s Fortnite is identical to the console and PC editions.

Existing players of the game - which pits 100 gamers against each other in an open world inspired by the Japanese novel Battle Royale - will be able to carry over their progress to the Switch version through their Epic Games account, The Verge reports.

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However, the tech site says Sony has blocked those who play Fortnite on its PlayStation console from accessing their account on the Switch version, sparking a flurry of complaints on social media.

The block on PlayStation players means they will need to create a new account to access the Switch version, and will have to start the game all over again, says gaming blog Kotaku.

Fortnite wasn’t the only new title announced at Nintendo’s E3 conference.

Also making their debuts was a new entry into the company’s fighting franchise, Super Smash Bros, and a new Super Mario Party game, the BBC reports.

Pokemon’s first outing on the Switch, Let’s go, Pikachu! and Let’s go, Eevee!, was also shown during the keynote, ahead of their slated release on 16 November.

Nintendo was the third and final major gaming firm to hold a conference at the event, with Microsoft showcasing a host of new games on Sunday, followed by Sony’s keynote on Monday.

With this year’s E3 event now over, here are all the major announcements from the video gaming event:

Sony

Sony unveiled a number of heavy-hitting games at the Japanese company's small but significant Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) conference last night.

Heading the big reveal was another trailer for The Last of Us Part II, “one of its most anticipated PlayStation games” of the year, according to the BBC.

Judging by the clip, the sequel to 2013’s critically acclaimed The Last of Us is just as “bloody” as the original, says the news site, although the violence was contrasted with a scene showing series protagonist Ellie kissing another, as yet unfamiliar, woman.

A release date has yet to be announced, but TechRadar expects the game to launch at the end of 2018 or in early 2019.

Sony also previewed Death Stranding, the “eccentric” horror game from Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, at the Las Vegas expo. Fans were given a glimpse of long periods of gameplay, along with the introduction of a new female character, says Ars Technica.

However, much like previous clips shown by Kojima, the new trailer for Death Stranding “introduced just as many questions as it answered”, the tech site adds. No release window was announced, but the demonstration of gameplay indicates a launch date may not be too far off.

Ubisoft

Ubisoft is known for announcing big batches of games at E3, and this year’s event was no exception.

Kicking off the French company’s conference was a “jubilant” performance from dancers and musicians that led into the announcement of Just Dance 2019, due to launch on 25 October, says Wired.

That was followed by the new Trials Rising indie game, along with the Donkey Kong Adventure expansion pack for last year’s Nintendo-Ubisoft crossover, Mario + Raving Rabbids.

Another Assassin’s Creed game is also on course for release, at the end of the year, with the latest title taking the franchise to Ancient Greece.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey lets players choose between a male and female protagonist, and will include RPG elements similar to those in last year’s Assassin’s Creed: Origins.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s lack of exclusive games and first-party developers has put the company on the back foot in the consoles wars against Sony, says Wired.

The company therefore needed a stellar showcase of games at E3 to “restore industry and player confidence in the brand”, the website argues. Thankfully for Microsoft, it did.

Around 50 titles were revealed during the conference, says CNet, including Just Cause 4, Devil May Cry 5 and the eagerly awaited Cyberpunk 2077 from The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red.

There were also a number of titles that will be available only on Xbox One consoles and Microsoft PCs, such as Halo Infinite, Gears of War 5 and Forza Horizon 4. The company also confirmed that it had partnered with five game studios that will develop titles that will be playable only on Microsoft systems.

Added to that, Xbox chief Phil Spencer announced that Microsoft is now developing a successor to the Xbox One, but he didn’t reveal when it will arrive or how powerful it might be.

Bethesda

One of the most talked-about games heading into E3 was Bethesda Game Studio’s latest entry in its post-apocalyptic franchise: Fallout 76.

Studio chief Todd Howard confirmed that the new game takes the series in a different direction to the older single-player titles, as Fallout 76 takes the form of an “entirely online” multiplayer role-playing game (RPG) with survival mechanics.

The game is set to release on 14 November for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Other titles announced during Bethesda’s showcase include fantasy RPG The Elder Scrolls VI, says Polygon, along with new entries into the Doom, Rage and Wolfenstein franchises.

And the company announced that it is working on its first all-new game in 25 years, says Ars Technica. The game, called Starfield, will be a single-player title and is expected to be set in outer space.

EA

EA announced most of its key titles ahead of E3, but that didn’t stop the company from revealing more information about some of the games it’s working on.

The first gameplay trailer for Anthem, developed by Mass Effect creators BioWare, made its debut during EA’s conference on Saturday, The Verge reports. Little is known about Anthem, which launches on 22 February 2019, although the trailer suggests it will feature a deep sci-fi world full of detail and have a similar multiplayer gameplay elements to Bungie’s Destiny 2.

There was also a host of announcements for EA’s Star Wars games, the website says, including an all-new title called Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The game is set after the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and is slated to arrive at the end of 2019.

Star Wars Battlefront II is also getting a number of updates over the coming months. According to Gamespot, the multiplayer shooter is getting new maps and characters from the prequel trilogy of movies, while larger scale skirmishes and additional space battle modes are set to appear in the summer.