The most popular video game of the past several years has been “Fortnite.” It is made by a company called Epic Games. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the fact that Epic Games has refused to allow “Fortnite” to be downloaded from the Google Play Store for the past 18 months. The reason for this is very simple. Google takes an enormous 30 percent cut of all apps that are bought in the Play Store. However, it was recently announced that Epic Games has finally caved in and allowed their enormously popular video game to be downloaded from the Play Store.
In the announcement, Epic Games said that their decision was based on the fact that Google does many things to make it unappealing for people to download apps and games from outside of the Play Store, which prevents Google from getting a cut of the proceeds. However, Google puts lots of annoying popup ads on apps and games that are not downloaded from the Play Store. The tech giant also released a service called Google Play Protect which is an attempt to block apps downloaded from sources other than the Play Store from being used on Android phones. Basically, Google is doing everything possible to force developers to release their apps through the Play Store so they will be able to collect their 30 percent cut.
The CEO of Epic Games has said many negative things about the monopolies that Google and Apple have where smartphones are concerned in the United States. It should be pointed out that Epic Games immediately released “Fortnite” for the iPhone in the Apple App Store 18 months ago. This is because there is no other option for Apple phones. Developers must release their apps through the App Store. Otherwise, they will not be able to be used on iPhones. Apple operates their business model the same as Google. Apple will take a large cut of all apps sold through the App Store.
Epic Games finally came to the realization that they were losing money because many people were not downloading “Fortnite” for Android because of all the roadblocks that Google put in their way. They felt it would be better for their business to allow “Fortnite” to be downloaded from the Play Store. Despite the 30 percent cut they will need to give to Google, more people will download it than before.
