Epic Games' Fortnite is now available on Google Play store

Fortnite is now available on the Google Play store for Android devices. Earlier, the game was only available on the Epic games website as a direct download.

Initially, when the game was launched in 2018, Epic Games very clearly stated that they had no intention of listing their game on the Google Play store and encouraged the users to download the game directly from their official website. The decision was made in order to avoid the hefty revenue cuts that Google takes from in-app purchases listed on its platform.

'Fortnite' on GooglePlay store

After a long 18 months of avoiding the Google Play store, Fortnite has finally made its way into the platform. Although the game will still be available for download on the Epic Games official website, a major chunk of the interested audience will probably prefer to download the game from the Play store due to it being pre-installed and readily available on most Android phones.

Was Epic's hand forced?

In a statement to Polygon, here is what an Epic representative said about the whole Fortnite-Google Playstore situation, while also explaining their decision.

After 18 months of operating Fortnite on Android outside of the Google Play Store, we’ve come to a basic realization:

Google puts software downloadable outside of Google Play at a disadvantage, through technical and business measures such as scary, repetitive security pop-ups for downloaded and updated software, restrictive manufacturer and carrier agreements and dealings, Google public relations characterizing third-party software sources as malware, and new efforts such as Google Play Protect to outright block software obtained outside the Google Play store.

Because of this, we’ve launched Fortnite for Android on the Google Play Store. We’ll continue to operate the Epic Games App and Fortnite outside of Google Play, too

We hope that Google will revise its policies and business dealings in the near future, so that all developers are free to reach and engage in commerce with customers on Android and in the Play Store through open services, including payment services, that can compete on a level playing field.

Based on Epic Games statement, they do not seem too happy about the whole situation which is understandable given how Google discourages their users to download software outside of the Playstore.