Fortnite's Android Release Will Skip The Google Play Store Entirely

Instead you'll have to download it from Fortnite's website.

Fortnite is heading to Android phones and while we don’t have an exact release date we do know it’s definitely happening and soon.

Unlike almost every other game and app on Android you won’t be able to download Fortnite from the Google Play Store. Instead its makers Epic Games will require everyone to head to Fortnite’s website where you’ll be given instructions on how to download the game.

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Epice Games

Why? Quite simply, money. Google asks for a 30% cut of all sales made by the apps and games that use the Google Play Store. Consider then how much money Fortnite makes already and it’s not surprising that Epic doesn’t particularly fancy parting with 30% of its profits unless it absolutely has to.

Unlike Apple which forces all apps and games to use the App Store, Google doesn’t actually require you to use Google Play to download an app or game onto an Android smartphone.

As such Epic has chosen to skip Google Play Store and instead will be distributing it via its own website.

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HuffPost UK

The hugely popular online game has already been available on Apple’s iPhones and tablets for a while and it’s expected that the game will make the move over to Android in the next few months.

There have been reports that the game will be announced during the unveiling of Samsung’s new flagship smartphone the Galaxy Note 9 with some element of timed exclusivity to the phone.

While this is a shrewd business decision for Epic Games it does present something of a problem regarding fake versions of the app filled with malware. There have already been reported cases of fake versions of the game directing people to malware-filled apps.