Epic Games Tim Sweeney has told GamesIndustry.biz that Fortnite will not be available to download through the Google Play Store, with Epic deciding to for direct downloads from its own installer on Android devices instead. The decision was made after Epic Games found that the 30% revenue cut policy Google has on the Play Store was too high, and could not be fully justified for the platform. The other reason given was to have a more direct link with players.
Tim Sweeney said:
“The 30 per cent store tax is a high cost in a world where game developers’ 70 per cent must cover all the cost of developing, operating, and supporting their games… on open platforms, 30 per cent is disproportionate to the cost of the services these stores perform, such as payment processing, download bandwidth, and customer service.”
Epic Games do have experience with their own digital storefront and recently cut its revenue share of sales down to 12%, as well as paying developers retroactively with the new figure applied. So Fortnite will be on Android but you won’t be able to find it on the Google Play Store at all, so don’t click on any dodgy apps purporting to be the game.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
tonyyeb
So they’d rather put their customers at risk with all the dodgy apk files claiming to be Fortnite going around (especially with the Samsung exclusivity deal too) and save themselves the 30% cut? Arseholes.
MrYd
Well done. You posted the TL;DR version of what I posted while I was busy typing. Are you some sort of witch?
tonyyeb
Just knew you’d post the long version and as I try to keep my posts BBC style, one sentence was all people were getting.
MrYd
Am I that predictable in my long posts?
Fine. The next thing I post shall be short. And I’ll make it rhyme, just for fun. It’ll make a nice change.
ron_mcphatty
Can you please instead,
Comment in Haiku, perhaps?
It would be a treat.
MrYd
I’m bad at Haiku
Or would the plural be Haikus?
I don’t really care
MrYd
This is going to end badly.
And makes Epic sound like a bunch of greedy muppets. That 30% Google take only covers payment and download bandwidth? What about all the work Google have done building Android in the first place? And keeping it updated and secure and making at least some effort to keeping the store free from dodgy things? (Apparently all that work counts for something on consoles, and they’re happy with a similar cost there)
But no, let’s just download it from somewhere else, remembering to turn off security features first before you install it. For a game game stupidly popular with children. Who’ll just install it from whichever link they happen to find first. What could possibly go wrong there?
The linked article mentions a danger that it’ll be harder for people to find the game. It won’t. A quick Googling is going to end up listing loads of places you can download it. Or something that claims to be Fortnite.
Who’s going to get the blame when it ends up being a complete mess? Google for letting kids install all sorts of dodgy crap on their phones? Or Epic for wanting an extra million dollars? (That’s a vague guess on how much money it might make based on the number of Android phones that might be capable of running it and how many people might pay for something)
(Note that I’m not suggesting there’s anything wrong with being able to install whatever you want on your phone. It’s an important thing to be able to do. Just that in this case it’s just Epic being greedy and possibly quite irresponsible telling kids to turn off important security features while rushing to download a game)
JR.
I think they’re both greedy but I kinda get where Epic are coming from.
Fornite is an insanely popular game that will continue to rake it in, I’m sure. Seems unfair for Google to take such a huge share of the profit in the circumstance. Surely they could have reached an agreement with them rather than refusing the change the standard policy (I’m assuming).
tonyyeb
As far as I’m aware Google have never changed that policy for anyone. And why should they? If they want to be on Google’s platform then they must play by their rules. Same as putting a game on the PS4, Xbox, Switch etc… Nintendo pretty much invented this method of publishing and everyone since has pretty much followed suit.
tonyyeb
Forgot to add… They have had to play by Apple’s rules by which they also take a 30% cut. But as Apple don’t allow installs from outside the App Store, Epic have no alternative but to use the App Store. Android does allow installs from outside the store and so Epic are taking full advantage of this.
JR.
I’m not saying Epic are right. I can just see both sides of the argument. I’m surprised Apple don’t take more. Dreadful company. Do you know what kind of cut Sony/MS/Nintendo take, just out of interest?
tonyyeb
Yeah true, both are only interested in making money. I’m not sure but I imagine it is in the same ballpark.