Epic Games finally launches Fortnite in Google Play Store

If you’re a mobile gamer, then you know Fortnite. It’s easily one of the most successful games in the recent games moving millions in this competitive industry. The popular battle royale game is available on PC, Game Consoles and Mobile Devices. However, there is a catch with its availability for smartphones. The game hasn’t been available on Google Play Store.

To understand this controversial strategy, we need to go back two years to 2018. The phenomenon reached Android devices in August of 2018 as a 3-day Samsung Galaxy Apps store exclusive after which became available for everyone through Epic Games’ website. According to the company Google cuts at least 30% in revenue, so Epic has been trying to avoid this bill. In a sudden, twist of fates, Fortnite is finally available for everyone through Play Store.

The shift comes 20 months after the release of Fortnite for Android. The company’s CEO has hugely criticized Google and Apple policies due to their revenue cuts. He explained his decision of not publishing Fortnite in Play Store as follows:

“The 30 percent store tax is a high cost in a world where game developers’ 70 percent must cover all the cost of developing, operating, and supporting their games…There’s a rationale for this on a console where there’s an enormous investment in hardware, often sold below cost and marketing campaigns in broad partnership with publishers…30 percent is disproportionate to the cost of the services these stores perform, such as payment processing, download bandwidth, and customer service.”
– Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, speaking to The Verge in 2018

Fortnite Pucs | Fortnite In Mobile Sign Up

The company tried once again with Google to exempt Fortnite from a 30% revenue cut. However, the search giant promptly denied it. Now, the company decided to ultimately launch the game and pay what Google charges. Epic Games made the following statement to justify the new move:

“After 18 months of operating Fortnite on Android outside of the Google Play Store, we’ve come to a basic realization: Google puts software downloadable outside of Google Play at a disadvantage, through technical and business measures such as scary, repetitive security pop-ups for downloaded and updated software, restrictive manufacturer and carrier agreements and dealings, Google public relations characterizing third-party software sources as malware, and new efforts such as Google Play Protect to outright block software obtained outside the Google Play store. Because of this, we’ve launched Fortnite for Android on the Google Play Store. We’ll continue to operate the Epic Games App and Fortnite outside of Google Play, too. We hope that Google will revise its policies and business dealings shortly, so that all developers are free to reach and engage in commerce with customers on Android and in the Play Store through open services, including payment services, that can compete on a level playing field.”

We believe that Google Play Store’s availability will further expand the game’s popularity in the platform. You can check in the link below if the game is already available for you:

FORTNITE - PLAY STORE

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