You can now download Fortnite from the Google Play Store
Fortnite, the mobile megahit game by Epic Games, is finallyavailable to download via the Google Play Storefor Android devices. Until now, players had to get the app for Android from Epic itself (viaThe Verge).
But the company has said that it can no longer operate this way, blaming Google’s treatment of third-party apps downloaded from outside the Play Store as the reason for giving in. Epic originally did not want to release the game via the Play Store because it would have to pay Google 30% of all revenue from in-app purchases.
In a statement, Epic said:
“After 18 months of operatingFortniteon 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.”
While Epic is clearly still not happy with the way Google treats the distribution of money made by third-party apps, it may end up benefitting Fortnite. Despite being one of the most popular mobile games on the planet, Android users until now may have been required to mess with their security settings to allow the game to download from what Google describes as an ‘unknown source’.
This technically can put the device at risk from malware from other downloads. With Fortnite on the Play Store, players won’t have to uncheck that setting box now.
The Fortnite app has been on Apple’s iOS app store for some time.
Author: Henry Burrell, Contributor
Previously Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, Henry covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.
