Epic Games

The saga of Fortnite on Android has had a lot of ups and downs as Epic Games tried to avoid paying the Play Store’s cut of in-app purchases, but things could have been very different if Epic Games had accepted a deal offered by Google which would have paid $147 million just to get the game on the Play Store.

Last year the hit game Fortnite was briefly available on Android through the Google Play Store, until Epic Games kicked off its war against app store fees by adding its own payment system to the game behind the backs of Google and Apple. Now, Google is launching a countersuit against Epic Games for that breach of contract.

In newly unredacted court documents from the Epic vs. Google case, a previously unknown program has come to light. Google’s “Premier Device Program” offered Android phone-makers an incentive to exclusively use the Play Store instead of third-party options.

As Epic Games continues its legal battles with Google and Apple, court documents are revealing a lot of interesting details regarding conversations behind the scenes. Today, an unredacted document sees a claim from Epic Games that, at one point, Google had apparently considered locking down Android’s ability to sideload apps in response to the Fortnite feud.

Google is currently in the midst of defending itself against a US lawsuit that takes issue with the Play Store requirement to use Google’s in-app billing, which takes a cut of revenue. Recently unsealed court documents have surfaced interesting details regarding Google and Epic Games, including that Google once called sideloading on Android an “awful experience.”

Epic Games launched Fortnite on Android in 2018 without putting the game in Google’s Play Store; you know, that place where it’s safe and easy to get apps on any Android phone. The reason was that Google, like Apple and others, takes a cut of revenue for in-app purchases on apps and games within the Play Store. As it turns out, Epic Games was considering methods of bargaining with Google about the Play Store cut that, apparently, meant Fortnite for Stadia was at one time an actual possibility.

Following a brazen move to add its own payments system to Fortnite, the hit game was removed from Google Play and the Apple App Store yesterday. While iPhone users are out of luck when it comes to the game, Android users can still install Fortnite. Here’s how to do so safely.

Fortnite for Android finally arrived early last month and in the time since the game has already exploded in popularity. This week, Epic Games is discussing stats on the Android release so far, as well as some of the challenges in bringing the game to Android.

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The hype surrounding the debut of Fortnite for Android is, needless to say, massive. Users are extremely excited for this launch, but the details surrounding it are looking pretty bleak…

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