How to Play Fortnite Split-Screen on PS4 and PS5 (and Its Drawbacks) (2024)

Everyone knows about adding friends to your Fortnite, teaming up for Duos or Squads, and playing some battle royale. However, there is a way to have some Fortnite fun locally on the same screen with the same console.

Thanks to Fortnite’s split-screen functionality, you and your friends can play Fortnite at the same time if you’re in the same space. Grab your second controller, grab a friend, and read the steps below to get some old-fashioned co-op fun.

Ensure You Have Two Fortnite Accounts Ready

You can’t play Fortnite split-screen if you don’t set up another account on your PS5 or PS4 with Fortnite logged in. If there’s another account on your console with PSN signed in, then open it, launch Fortnite, and sign in or register the details for an Epic account. And no, you don’t need a PlayStation Plus to play Fortnite multiplayer.

If you don’t have another user account on your console for Fortnite, you can create a new one by following the steps below on a PS5:

1. Tap the PS button (don’t hold it).
2. Navigate to your profile icon in the bottom menu and select it.
3. Open Switch User in the resulting menu.
4. Select Add User and choose Get Started.
5. Sign in all the relevant PSN details.

Do this on a PS4:

1. Hold the PS button on your controller to open the Quick Menu.
2. Select Power > Log Out of PS4 to leave your current user profile.
3. Press the PS button to reconnect your controller, then on the resulting screen, select New User.
4. Choose Create a User to make a new permanent profile on your PS4.
5. Sign in or sign up for PSN.

Now the accounts are set up, launch Fortnite and follow the on-screen instructions to sign in or sign up.

How to Play Fortnite Split-Screen

With your two accounts ready, you must decide which one will “host the game.” The host user enjoys certain privileges like controlling the Battle Bus jump, easy access to the Locker, access to their friend list and the Item Shop, and all game sounds come from their game’s perspective.

Add the second player by following these steps:

1. While in the lobby of the host user, connect another controller to the console by holding the PS button and selecting the second account with an active Fortnite account.

   

2. Press the triangle button and hold it until the loading circle in the bottom-right corner completes. A window overlay with the PLAYER 2 tag will pop up to log the second account in.

   

3. The second player will appear in the lobby, and you can now play with a split-screen in the same party.

   

With both accounts set up and logged in, playing Fortnite with a friend using split-screen should be a quick and easy process to dive into.

Drawbacks of Fortnite’s Split-Screen

Playing co-op locally on a split-screen is a lot of fun, but you must still consider all the issues you will encounter with playing like this. Here are some of them:

• Split-screen means you’ll get less screen real estate per player and have to contend with smaller visibility.
• Sharing a screen also means your console must run two games simultaneously. This will stress the console, and you may notice poorer graphics and choppier animations. It’s especially worse on the PS4.
• Having two games running simultaneously on the same screen can also get confusing. You might mistake your screen as the upper one when it’s the lower one, and vice-versa. This confusion could hamper your Fortnite game.
• Some users might also notice weird animations and glitches in their split-screen games. While they mostly don’t last very long, they could be very distracting. Some of the glitches might also affect your cosmetics.
• Fortnite’s split-screen doesn’t support more than two players at a time right now. So if you have more than one other person, you will have to take turns.
• Fortnite doesn’t let more than one player have a mic on at the same time, so the two local players must share a mic if they wish to talk to other online players.

So, while you can still have a good time playing split-screen on Fortnite, it isn't perfect.

Split-Screen Is a Good Addition to Fortnite

No one expected Fortnite to add this feature to an online battle royale game. But they did, and it’s a welcome addition reminiscent of co-op FPS games back in the day.

While it still needs some work to come out more polished, split-screen works well for the most part. We hope Epic works on this feature and improves some of the issues listed here. In the meantime, plug in your controllers and game with your friends!