Epic Games has released its battle royale hit Fortnite through the official Play Market on Android, 18 months after the game was released as third-party software that can be downloaded outside of the official Google mobile app market. Epic says it does this because Google is putting third-party software at a disadvantage by warning users of potential security issues that may not exist and characterizing any software not downloaded through the Play Market as malware.
Epic issued a statement saying that after a year and a half of Fortnite on Android outside of the Play Market, they still had to release the game there. Because Google disadvantages all developers outside of their store by constantly giving users dreaded pop-ups when installing third-party apps. They say that it is not recommended to install it and classify it as malware. But even that is not all. Google launched the Play Protect service in order to directly block any software that is not downloaded from the Play Market.
For all of these reasons, Epic says it's now going to release the game through the official Android channel, meaning the company will now pay Google the 30 percent Play Market mandated commission on all in-app purchases. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has been a vocal critic of both the Apple App Store and Google Play Market, accusing both platforms of abusing their market positions to deter developers more than necessary.
"A 30% store tax is a high price in a world where 70% of game developers' earnings have to cover all development, operation and support costs ," Sweeney said in August 2018 when Epic first released Fortnite on mobile. . On Android, the game can be downloaded using a mobile web browser from the official Epic service. On open mobile platforms like Android, Sweeney said, "30 percent is disproportionate to the cost of the services these stores provide, such as payment processing, download bandwidth, and customer service."
Sweeney's feelings don't seem to have changed despite Epic releasing Fortnite on the Play Market. “We hope that Google will review its policies and business dealings in the near future so that all developers can freely communicate with Android customers both in the Play Market and through trading through open services. Including payment systems that can compete with Google on an equal footing , ”concludes the Epic statement.
In December, Epic sought a 30 percent tax exemption, calling the fee "illegal" for platforms with over 50 percent market share. (Epic released Fortnite on the iOS App Store in 2018 on the assumption that it was impossible to bypass Apple's strict policies and security restrictions. Epic paid Apple the necessary fees, arguing that iOS is more limited than Android, but takes far more than share in the global market).
“Epic is not looking for a special exception; rather, we expect to see a general change in practice across the smartphone industry in this regard ,” the company said in a statement regarding Android. "We asked that Google not follow the path of its public announcement that products distributed through the Play Market will use Google's payment service for in-app purchases."
Google, however, denied the request, writing back , "Google Play has a business model and billing policy that allows us to invest in our platform and tools to help developers build successful businesses while keeping users safe." We welcome any developer who recognizes the value of Google Play and expect them to participate on the same terms as other developers."
More recently, Epic turned what was once called the Fortnite Launcher, the software that allowed Epic to bypass the Play Market, into an Epic Games app with the intention of making it the mobile counterpart of their PC games store. The app can still be downloaded from the company's website, where it provides access to cross-platform battle royale. And you can also download Fortnite on Android by following a similar link on the company's website.
