Epic Games has reluctantly listed its popular game Fortnite on Google Play Store. The battle royal game was not made available on Play Store when launched back in 2018 because the developer was strictly against Google’s policy of snipping 30% revenue generated from in-app purchases.
The Epic Games stimulated users to download the game from its official website. However, it’s hard for developers to avoid the security warnings that Google repetitively pops over apps and games downloaded from third-party sources, and the developers finally caved in.
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A spokesperson of Epic Games said, “After 18 months of operating Fortnite on Android outside of the Google Play Store, we’ve come to a basic realization.“ He further added, “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 Games doesn’t seem jovial about listing Fortnite on Google Play Store. The company has earlier tried to deal with Google to exempt the Fortnite from 30% cut but failed. Now to reach and acquire more users, Epic Games had to acquiesce.
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Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said during the Fortnite launch in 2018, “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.” The concern of the executive has still not faded who is hopeful in saying, “Google will revise its policies and business dealings in the near future, 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.”
The company will simultaneously allow users to download Fortnite from its official website.
