Fortnite is finally available to play from the Google Play Store. Till now, players had to use Epic’s own software or go through Samsung. While this might be good news to players who now have easier access to the game, it is the end of an 18-month battle with Google.
Epic Games has released a statement regarding Fortnite finally arriving On the Google Play Store:
“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.”
Epic had been utilizing a loophole in Google’s Android operating system which allows users to install apps from sources other than the official app store. This allowed Epic Games to surpass the 30% pay cut requirement from Google. It also allowed the developers to offer independent games for sale to users who had already installed Fortnite.
Epic Games stated that, “Epic doesn’t seek a special exception for ourselves; rather we expect to see a general change to smartphone industry practices in this regard. We have asked that Google not enforce its publicly stated expectation that products distributed through Google Play use Google’s payment service for in-app purchase”.
However, Google denied the request from Epic. It stated, “Google Play has a business model and billing policy that allow us to invest in our platform and tools to help developers build successful businesses while keeping users safe. We welcome any developer that recognizes the value of Google Play and expect them to participate under the same terms as other developers”.