Google Adds Unique Warning That Fortnite is Unavailable on Google Play Store
Epic Games recently opened sign-ups for the Fortnite Android beta, as the company prepares to release Fortnite on Android devices. However, while the game is available on iOS via the Apple’s App Store; Epic Games has decided to bypass the Google Play Store. Instead, they are making the game available to players via direct download from their website. Now, Google has added a unique warning to the Google Play Store. The message explicitly informs users that the game is unavailable on the service.
The Unique Warning on the Google Play Store
Epic’s decision not to use the Google Play Store could be massive for Google; the company stands to miss out on at least £50 million of projected sales revenue as a result. Now, when users of the Google Play Store search for Fortnite, they see a message which reads; “Fortnite Battle Royale by Epic Games, Inc is not available on Google Play”. While the message itself appears relatively mundane, this is not standard practice for the Google Play Store. In fact, the message is unique to Fortnite; the store does not list similar messages for other unavailable apps.
At present, the top search result on the Google Play Store for “Fortnite” is its direct competitor; PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile. This is very likely to be automatically generated by Google’s search algorithms, rather than any attempt on Google’s part to direct potential customers elsewhere; the game was the top result prior to the announcement of the beta as well. However, the fact that Google felt the need to include a unique warning on their service indicates that they are likely seeing a huge amount of traffic related to the game. It should be noted, perhaps, that Google’s message makes no mention of how players can find the game, or even that it is available elsewhere.
Reasons Why Epic Has Avoided the Google Play Store
Epic has stated that avoiding the 30% cut which Google takes from sales on the Google Play Store was part of the reason why they avoided the service. However, it should be noted that Epic Games already pays a cut of around the same amount to Apple for sales on iOS devices through the App Store. In addition, the method of downloading Fortnite directly from their website appears to pose some potential security risks. After downloading the game, the game posts a notification to users reminding them to; “make their device as secure as possible”; by disabling the permission settings which had to be changed to allow the game to be downloaded in the first place. Epic Games has yet to comment on this issue.