Epic Games has confirmed that when Fortnite Battle Royale is released on Android Smartphones, it will not be released through the Google Play store. In an email to The Verge, CEO Tim Sweeney said this was in part to avoid Google’s 30% cut on in-app purchases for games sold through its storefront.
“The 30 percent store tax is a high cost in a world where 70 percent of game developers have to cover all the costs of developing, operating and supporting their games,” Sweeney told The Verge.
The CEO went on to say that he thinks this number is disproportionate to the services Google provides on open platforms like Android where the company maintains the operating system separate from the hardware manufacturers. Sweeney said another reason for distributing Fortnite on Android using its own installer program was to “maintain its direct relationship with consumers.” This is similar to PC, where players have to open Epic’s own launcher to play the game. The news confirms the rumors that started circulating earlier this week, but it remains to be seen how much this direct distribution model imposes on Android users. Fortnite is already available on the Apple store after launching in April. No date has been set for when the game will launch on Android.
