Nintendo teams up with Microsoft to enable cross-play

Taking a swipe at Sony for its refusal to enable cross-play between consoles, Japanese video gaming giant Nintendo has partnered with Microsoft to promote this functionality of their two systems in "Minecraft", a game that Microsoft publishes itself, the media reported.

The Nintendo Switch version of Minecraft now enables cross-play with PC, Xbox One, and smartphones -- but notably not the PlayStation 4, The Verge reported on Thursday.

This was made possible after Nintendo decided to bring the Bedrock Engine to its portable console.

According to a report in the Irish News on Thursday, Sony faced criticism last week after it blocked cross-play between the console and other devices when playing "Fortnite", which was launched on the Switch during the E3 gaming convention.

Players were vocal about their dissatisfaction when they found that it was possible to play on Xbox and then pick up the same game on a Switch, PlayStation owners did not have the same facility, the report added.