To most gamers,Fortnitemay seem ubiquitous. It’s one of the most-played video games in the world, it’s bringing in digital cash hand over fist, and even whenFortnitefans aren’t playing it, they’re watching it on streaming platforms. There’s only one major gap inFortnite’s coverage, which has long been the Google Play Store. Android users could still download the game throughFortnite’s official website, but it wasn’t available to search for or download through Android’s biggest storefront – until now.
Epic Gameshas seemingly given up its crusade to force Google to lower fees forFortnite’s digital transactions. The issue for Epic was that, due to the popularity and revenue ofFortnite, it thought Google should give it a better deal than other games. Google has refused to give up ground, however. Epic appears to be the first to have blinked.
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Fortnitewill now be available through theGoogle Play Store, likely with the full 30% fee on all digital transactions that Google requires of all products.Fortnitewill likely grow significantly in popularity on Android as a result. Being on the storefront makes the game just a button click away and gets rid of all the warnings about potential malware, too.
While it’s certainly possible that Epic did end up making a deal with Google, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Epic released a statement regardingFortnitecoming to the Google Play Storeand it isn’t exactly complimentary, like one would expect if a deal had just been made. “Google puts software downloadable outside of Google Play at a disadvantage, through technical and business measures such as scary, repetitive security pop-ups and updated, restrictive manufacture and carrier agreements and dealings.” To say the least, Epic’s insinuating that Google strong-armedFortniteout of being an accessible game outside of the Google Play network.
Regardless of how Epic feels about the situation,Fortniteis now playable through the Google Play Store andGoogleis likely very happy to have it there. It likely isn’t going anywhere, either. Now that Epic has decided to support Google Play, there’s unlikely a possibility of going back.
The big question that many are likely asking is why Epic would putFortniteon Google Play now, as opposed to any other time. It could be that Google’s anti-third party efforts finally pushed Epic to do something. Some are speculating that it could be due to Epic seeingFortnitepopularity dwindle, in hopes of recovering some players on Android. Whatever Epic’s reasoning,Fortnitefans with Android devices have no reason not to be happy.
Fortniteis available now on PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Android and iOS devices.
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