Fortnite players on Switch no longer combined with Xbox One and PS4 cross-play parties

Switch users are now pooled with mobile users with the release of Fortnite v8.10.

Fortnite Switch users are no longer combined with Xbox One and PS4 cross-play parties now that v8.10 is out in the wild.

Switch users will find they are instead pooled with mobile users. Epic Games said the change should result in a better experience for players on the Nintendo console.

"We expect on-average better per-game experience for both mobile and Switch players," yesterday's patch notes stated.

According to Nintendo Life, the change likely comes down to Switch users being unable to keep up with PS4 and Xbox One users. This is due to various performance issues and a 30fps cap. The result is players on PS4 and Xbox One have higher gunfire rates which deal more damage per second than the Switch version.

As the site notes, pooling Switch owners with mobile users won't be fair either, at least for the latter. Mobile devices lack physical buttons which rely on touch input.

That said, Switch users can still play with others on PS4 and Xbox One folks so you're not being forced to play only with mobile users. Just form a party and go from there.

With the release of the patch, Epic combined Xbox One and PS4 pools, now requiring players to opt-in to cross-play. Players who opt out will be restricted to Creative Mode and Playgrounds.

Epic said "unlocking optimization potential" was the motivating factor behind all of these changes. Doing so allows it to run more playlists "during more hours of the day while supporting more data center locations."

It encourages players to provide feedback on their experience with these changes.

If you're just jumping into Week 3 of Fortnite Season 8, be sure to look over the new weekly challenges.