What game is the main one today for teenage children and quite adults and successful people? Not World of Warcraft, not DotA 2, or even GTA 5, but Fortnite. In general, everything is cut into it, regardless of the platform. Epic Games managed to create such an addicting game that it became a cult overnight and turned into a new esports discipline. But this success was the reason for the studio to start showing its character, demanding a very special attitude from both Google and the outside Apple.
Fortnite can now only be downloaded as an APK file
Despite the fact that Epic Games at one time refused to place Fortnite on Google Play in order not to pay Google a commission on transactions, the studio could not do this from the App Store. After all, any application can be installed on Android, even bypassing the official directory, but on iOS – no longer. Therefore, Epic Games did not dare to spoil relations with Apple. Until yesterday, when the studio decided to provoke the company from Cupertino and built their own payment system into the game.
Fortnite removed from the App Store
Check out Epic Games' message to users, it's really epic
Needless to say, Apple didn't like it, and she immediately removed Fortinte from the App Store. But Epic Games needed this, because at exactly the same moment, the studio filed a lawsuit against the company, demanding a decrease in the size of the commission. Obviously, this was a real provocation, because the preparation of a lawsuit requires an examination of all the circumstances of the case, but Epic Games lawyers knew perfectly well what would come of it. But no one could have imagined the real scale of the provocation. After all, as it became clear this morning, Epic Games lured Google into its game, provoking it to remove Fortnite from Google Play.
The icing on the cake is an email newsletter to users from Epic Games with an opportunity to receive a discount on in-app purchases:
Fortnite Mega-Discounts Take Action! Starting today, you can enjoy up to 20% off V-Bucks or other real money purchases in Fortnite on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, Mac, and mobile when using priority payment methods. This is not a stock. These are new reduced prices that are always available.
Where to download Fortnite for Android
Obviously, Fortnite fans will be unhappy with the lack of discounts and the inability to download their favorite game from the App Store and Google Play.
The rhetoric of the appeal perfectly indicates the provocative nature of the campaign launched by Epic Games to develop a conflict situation. The studio purposefully writes that discounts are not a temporary phenomenon, but a new practice that will be applied everywhere. All you need is to pay for in-app purchases directly to Epic Games, bypassing the App Store and Google Play payment tools. But why was this done, if the studio probably knew that Fortnite would still be removed from everywhere? Of course, to provoke users.
Now Fortnite fans from all over the world are learning that this Apple and Google have deprived them of the opportunity to buy in-game currency at a discount, taking the discount part in their pocket. What reaction will follow from their side? It will be anger, anger, discontent, but clearly not happiness. Another thing is that on iOS users actually have no way to install Fortnite bypassing the App Store (in fact, there is a way, but it is even more confusing than installing the APK on Android), and here on Android there is such an opportunity – using the APK file or third-party app stores.
Where will all this lead? In my opinion, to the mandatory redistribution of the rules for publishing software in mobile app stores. After all, current commissions affect both developers, who receive less profit, and users, who are forced to spend more money on in-app purchases and applications than they could if the commissions were lower. Therefore, even if this does not seem entirely fair to Apple and Google, they will most likely be obliged to change the amount of the fee.