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Citing 'Economic Efficiency,' Epic Says Fortnite's Upcoming Android App Won't Hit Google Play Store (theverge.com)
Fortnite developer Epic Games will not be distributing its massively popular game on Android because the Play Store takes a 30 percent cut of the revenue. Instead, the company plans to distribute the software to players via the official Fornite website, "where Android users can download a Fortnite Installer program to install the game on compatible devices," reports The Verge. From the report: For Fortnite on iOS, Epic decided to distribute the game on the App Store, most likely because it had no other method of getting iPhone users to easily download the software. (Apple, unlike Google, does not allow iOS users to download apps that are not first approved by its internal review processes and distributed through its proprietary marketplace.) With Google and its more open platform, Epic can get away with distributing the app itself. CEO Tim Sweeney says the primary motivation here is twofold. Epic wants to maintain its direct relationship with consumers. (The company currently distributes Fortnite on PC through its own Epic Games Launcher, instead of using Valve's popular Steam platform.)
The second reason is financial: Epic does not want to pay Google's 30 percent cut, especially considering the entire game is funded through in-app purchases. "The 30 percent store tax is a high cost in a world where game developers' 70 percent must cover all the cost of developing, operating, and supporting their games," Sweeney says. "There's a rationale for this on console where there's enormous investment in hardware, often sold below cost, and marketing campaigns in broad partnership with publishers." But on mobile platforms that are open, like Android, "30 percent is disproportionate to the cost of the services these stores perform, such as payment processing, download bandwidth, and customer service," he says. Sweeney adds that Epic is "intimately familiar with these costs" from its direct distribution of Fortnite on Mac and PC. There's no word as to when the Android version of Fortnite will be available, but rumors suggest it will be tied to the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 9 launch on August 9th.
The second reason is financial: Epic does not want to pay Google's 30 percent cut, especially considering the entire game is funded through in-app purchases. "The 30 percent store tax is a high cost in a world where game developers' 70 percent must cover all the cost of developing, operating, and supporting their games," Sweeney says. "There's a rationale for this on console where there's enormous investment in hardware, often sold below cost, and marketing campaigns in broad partnership with publishers." But on mobile platforms that are open, like Android, "30 percent is disproportionate to the cost of the services these stores perform, such as payment processing, download bandwidth, and customer service," he says. Sweeney adds that Epic is "intimately familiar with these costs" from its direct distribution of Fortnite on Mac and PC. There's no word as to when the Android version of Fortnite will be available, but rumors suggest it will be tied to the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 9 launch on August 9th.
I would rather have that money go to Epic (who actually built the game) than to Google (who is just doing some web hosting).
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I completely get why Epic wants to do this: 30% adds up to a lot of money for a game that pulls in hundreds of millions a month. But for the broader Android user base this is a terrible idea.
Having the ability to install external APKs and actually enticing non-technical users to do it are two different things. The average smartphone user isn't prepared to use external sources, and if they do, it's going to end up like malware on Windows. Which is to say there's going to be trojan APKs left and right pretending to be Fortnite, or Fortnite with hacks, etc.
Fortnite's original game mode - Save The World - was a zombie survival game. If users have to install APKs from unknown sources, we're going to be surviving a whole new kind of zombie outbreak...
Google was recently fined Billions by the EU for a supposedly closed system (eg requiring Google Play on all Android devices), yet Apple gets away with a far more closed system. Stupidity knows no bounds
Encouraging people to download software from even less secure sites is NOT a win even if one of the corporate cancers is able to get a bit more profit.
The Fortnite website is not "less secure" than the Google play store. One of those has been found with malware.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Sideloading could become more difficult in future official Android builds as a response to this...but hopefully Google will choose the high road.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
this precedent will inevitably lead to kids side-installing malware to get their games.
Why don't you think of the children? That is an emotional appeal. Just like arguing that violent video games will lead children into a life of violence.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
It is a win because if successful it shows the corporate cancer known as google they need to adopt a more reasonable stance or they can be worked around.
While it seems we are largely in agreement on the problems, you seem to have nothing resembling a solution or any constructive improvements for mine. A "problem" with no solution is just part of reality. If you can't fix it, then you better learn to enjoy living with it.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Ad-ridden, crypto-mining fake fortnite installers have been a thing on play store for a while, dear pro-monopoly zealot.
... walled gardens and locking down games accusing google of unfair practices. That is rich.
Thank you for attempting to clarify your position. Unfortunately, it appears that you are a Libertarian, but one of sufficient sophistication not to identify yourself as such. Under that theory of interpretation, you have already discovered that Libertarian "philosophy" is badly broken and therefore avoid the tag. Again, under that hypothesis, I would say the problem is that Libertarians don't actually understand freedom and there was quite a bit of evidence of such confusion in your reply. I actually consider it is possible that the negative mods are additional evidence from the negative mods. I would regard it as an absolute refutation of your position if those mods actually came from your own sock puppet identities. (That is not an accusation, just a hypothesis that would probably be difficult to test (if you have the skill to hide them). There are other hypotheses, too, though mostly I regard negative mods as a metric of the brokenness of Slashdot's moderation system.)
Or maybe it's just that you didn't or even can't understand my original comment on this story, the main suggestion contained in it, or the underlying philosophy as encapsulated in my sig?
Three substantive reactions to your latest long comment:
(1) Still nothing that I could recognize as a constructive approach towards a solution, just a lot of angry criticism.
(2) Your philosophic fixation is crippling your ability to use your hardware tools. The only ways this would not be true would be if you are either such a stellar programmer that you can create every software tool you want or if you personally know and trust such programmers who provide you with the tools.
(3) You again ignored my primary solution, which would be for the google to provide more of the financial information that would increase the "meaningful" aspect of the choices of which Android apps to freely choose.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.