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Following Apple, Google Removes ‘Fortnite’ from Google Play Following Epic’s Direct Payment Option Bypassing Google’s Fees

If you somehow missed the news from earlier today, Epic added a direct payment option on iOS and Android for Fortnite. This allowed players to get discounted V-Bucks versus paying full price using Apple and Google in app purchases. A few hours after the news about the Fortnite Mega Drop (the discount) went live, Apple pulled Fortnite from the App Store and Epic definitely expected all of that to happen because they were ready and filed legal papers in response to Apple pulling Fortnite. A few hours after that, Google pulled Fortnite from Google Play. On Android, this isn’t as huge a deal because you can still install Fortnite through the Epic launcher while on iOS, you’re out of luck.

After Fortnite got removed from Google Play, Epic has filed a suit against Google just like the Apple suit. In a statement given to The Verge, Google said Fortnite violated its policies and is open to continue discussing with Epic to bring Fortnite back to Google Play. It is going to be interesting to see how both of these play out. On iOS, Fortnite can only be installed and used through the App Store while there are alternate options on Android with Epic’s own launcher and the Samsung store. In the last few years, Epic managed making Sony open up to cross play with other consoles. Prior to that, PlayStation players had cross play options with PC in a few games but Fortnite was a big part of making more developers push for cross play. As of now, Fortnite is not available on the App Store and Google Play on mobile.

[Source: The Verge]