Fortnite players on Android may have often wondered why the game isn't available officially via the Google Play Store, the most convenient way to access games and apps on the Android ecosystem. After nearly two years of standing tall and sticking by its reasons, it looks like Epic Games has given in, and finally made Fortnite available officially on Android, on the Google Play Store. So far, interested gamers in the Android ecosystem had to sideload the Fortnite app on their Android devices, in order to play the game.
However, the move does not seem to be made out of particular contentment. Through a statement shared by Epic Games on the matter, it is pretty clear that the developers felt hard pushed by certain practices that Google employs on its Android ecosystem. This, in fact, has been a much discussed matter, with Google being pulled up frequently for anti-competitive practices such as imposing restrictions on an alternate download source for apps on Android devices. Google, in return, has maintained that such actions are necessary in order to keep the platform secure. Taking all things into consideration, here's what Epic has said:
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. We’ll continue to operate the Epic Games App and Fortnite outside of Google Play, too. We hope that 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 key contention is the 30 percent commission on all earnings that Google takes from apps on its platform, which Epic considers disproportionate for what developers are offered in return. Earlier, Epic put up Fortnite on the iOS App Store without much qualm about paying the requisite commission, by stating that Apple's ecosystem was already too restrictive, making it impossible for third party services to install apps from outside the App Store ecosystem.
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