It isn’t hard to figure out how Epic Games entices its players to spend money on Fortnite. Despite being a free release, the game funds itself with the help of in-game purchases. Since every purchase in Fortnite offers no competitive advantage, Epic Games has created such an excellent business model that keeps them working and keeps players coming back. Keeping the game as enticing they could is one of the tasks Epic Games has to keep on top of. On top of that, listening to the community and keeping players motivated with several tasks has allowed made the developers of Fortnite fan-favorites.
With Fortnite being quite an open game when it comes to crossplay between different platforms, Epic Games has just announced that they’re making their way to Android devices as well. Given that iOS players have been enjoying the game for a while, this new addition will quench the thirst of players waiting to experience the game on their mobile devices.
Since most apps land on the Play Store, Google has created an excellent business model by charging the developers a fee for every penny they make.
CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeny, elaborated on the matter of why they’re intending not to release the hottest game of the year on the Google Play Store, he said they they’re not willing to give Google 30% of the cut for every in-game purchase. Given that Google’s responsible for basically most of the in-app purchases that happen on Android, this would be quite a work through Epic Games would want to go through.
Speaking to The Verge, aside from financial gain, Epic Games elaborated on another reason why they plan not to launch their game via Google’s Play Store.
“Epic wants to have a direct relationship with our customers on all platforms where that’s possible”
“The great thing about the Internet and the digital revolution is that this is possible, now that physical storefronts and middlemen distributors are no longer required.” – Tim Sweeny
Since Apple basically has a stronghold of what apps could be sideloaded onto their devices, Epic Games was forced to launch their game via the iOS App Store. Whereas on Android, since you do have permission to sideload apps via installable APKs, Epic Games is willing to save in those cash for themselves.
Given that the game is available on basically every platform by this point, players who’ve already purchased characters, gliders and emotes should have access to them on their phones too at launch.
I personally wouldn’t mind downloading Fortnite on my phone from Epic Game’s official website. However, given that most players wouldn’t go out of their way to access Epic Game’s website, I would love to see Epic land a bait for players on existing platforms by offering them enticing in-game items so that they download the game on their phones as well.
