Fortnite is finally on Android, but the release has been handled in a 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.

It looks like digital games are now an indelible part of the gaming landscape- they continue to comprise an increasingly large portion of game sales, and represent a 74% share of the overall pie, according to a report released by the Entertainment Software Association (via Games Industry).

This, of course, explains why dedicated US game retailers like GameStop are struggling- more and more people are used to getting their games digitally, as digital game purchases and downloads become increasingly normalized. However, this is important- that 74% figure includes full game digital downloads, subscriptions, DLC, social, and mobile- with the latter only being available digitally, and representing a massive part of the market, the 74% figure makes more sense.

Given the push towards digital by Xbox, PlayStation, and even Nintendo going forward, as well as the continued growth of mobile, VR, and PC gaming, it will be interesting to see just how much that figure rises in the coming months and years.

As if the release of Assassin’s Creed Pirates weren’t enough, EA has announced that Heroes of Dragon Age is now available for iOS and Android via Apple iTunes and Google Play respectively. It will be playable on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and various Android smartphones and tablets (though more powerful handsets will have an advantage).

Heroes of Dragon Age is developed by Inside Mobile Apps and is a free to play title that features strategic combat in which players will be able to collect more than 100 heroes – including dragons, golems and hopefully the Darkspawn as well – and have them fight other players in squads. You can also take part in quests and face bosses. Heroes of Dragon. Combine compatible heroes and runes and you’ll be able to enhance various statistics for your squad.

Will it be intriguing enough, considering that Dragon Age has faced a bit of a slump after the second game and Inquisition is still a ways off? We’ll find out.

Harebrained Schemes, the minds behind Shadowrun Returns, the first $1 million+ Kickstarter video game project that released earlier this year on Steam, the App Store, and Google Play to great success, have announced the next entry to the game, Shadowrun: Dragonfall.

Shadowrun: Dragonfall will function as an expansion to Shadowrun Returns, and it will be made available on Windows PCs, Mac OSX, and Linux this January on Steam and on GOG; tablet versions for both iOS and Android will follow shortly. The game will retail for $14.99, and will require Shadowrun Returns to play. A compilation called Shadowrun Campaign Pack, which includes both the base game and the expansion, will also be made available for $24.99.

Shadowrun: Dragonfall will be set in a cyberpunk Berlin setting, and it will contain a multitude of new enhancements and features, including a new story, new weapons, cyberware, and attacks, as well as (finally!) the ability to save anywhere, at any time.

“I’m delighted that our Kickstarter Backers chose Berlin as the location for our next big expansion.” said Jordan Weisman, founder of Harebrained Schemes. “It’s the perfect setting to show off all the new gameplay and features we’ve added in this expansion. Our design team has done a fantastic job of building on the work we started withShadowrun Returns. I couldn’t be happier.”

There are times when Google’s absolutely hands off, uncurated approach to its Google Play app store has merits, which definitely put it over Apple’s almost anal control of the App Store. This is not one of those times.

iFruit, the GTA V companion app that Rockstar recently released to iOS users, which allows them to make customized license plates, customize their cars, and train their dog (no, seriously), has spawned countless imitators on the Google Play store. And many of these, Rockstar warns, might be malware.

This is, of course, an issue with the Google Play Store, but maybe the issue wouldn’t have arisen in the first place had Rockstar simply released its iFruit app to everyone. That’s not to say they aren’t- they’re at work developing the app for not only Android, but also Windows Phone, PlayStation Mobile, and PlayStation Vita. So unless you’re a BlackBerry user, you’re likely to be able to access the app soon.

In the meanwhile, unless you own an Apple device, don’t download any iFruit or iFruit-like app that you might run into on your app store.

[CVG]