Epic Games Delays ‘Fortnite’ Account Linking Feature

By Stefanie Fogel

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Epic Games is working on an account merging system for its popular battle royale title “,” but it’s going to take a bit longer than expected, it said in an update  on Thursday.

Previously, the studio said the feature would be ready in November and it would let players combine multiple console-linked accounts, so they can transfer Battle Royale cosmetics, lifetime wins, V-Bucks, and Save the World campaign access. But, it’s now being pushed back to next year due to “some ongoing technical concerns.”

“We want to make sure that this process is thoroughly tested and working properly before releasing it to those of you currently looking to transfer purchases from other accounts to your primary account,” Epic said. “We’ll be sure to update you as we get closer to the release of the feature, which will include a web page on launch to help guide you through the flow!”

Epic announced the account merging feature shortly after Sony said it’s finally ready to support full cross-platform play for certain third party titles on the PlayStation 4 starting with “Fortnite.” Before that, Sony only allowed “Fortnite” crossplay with mobile and PC, which means Xbox and Switch players had to create new accounts and lose their purchases and progress. Sony received much criticism in the last year over how it’s handled the issue of cross-platform play with its console competitors, especially after “Fortnite” launched on Switch in June.

“Fortnite” recently reached a new milestone of 200 million registered players, Epic said, peaking at 8.3 million concurrent users at once. That’s up from an estimated 125 million registered players in June.