Fortnite is finally on Android, but the release has been handled in very weird way. Rather than launching simply on Google Play, as many may have expected, the game can only be downloaded and installed directly from Epic’s website (though if you are a Samsung Galaxy owner, you can grab it straight from the Galaxy Store too).
It’s a move that obviously saves Epic a lot of money, because they now no longer have to give Google a 30% cut on all the in-game purchases that they would have to if they went through Google Play. How much is that 30% going to amount to? According to a report by analysis firm Sensor Tower, this move loses Google at least $50 million in revenue this year alone. Of course, that’s just for the next five months- Google would lose even more money over a full year.
Given how big Google is, I am sure this won’t break the bank for them- but if nothing else, they have to be worried about the precedent for bypassing Google Play that Epic and Fortnite, hugely popular and visible, will have set in their own right. To give you a better idea of just how well Fortnite can be performing, and is performing- on the iOS, it crossed 100 million downloads in just five months, and nets Epic a revenue of $2 million every day.