The rest will follow after this announcement
If the enthusiasm around Fortnite has clearly waned since its launch in 2017, it nevertheless remains the most popular and most played Battle Royale game to date, especially since the first map returned without a build. At one point, Google did everything it could to get Epic Games to launch and monetize Fortnite on its store, but it never worked…
An offer from Google that is difficult to refuse
Just before its mobile release, Fortnite’s creators received an offer that was hard to refuse. As the lawsuit between Google and Epic Games, the technology company, confirms It offered $147 million To Battle Royale owners. In return, they only wanted to release the game in the official Android app store. It goes without saying that this amount was not enough to convince developers and publishers of what is considered one of the most famous video games in history. That’s why the two companies are now locked in a legal battle.
Google used every mechanism at its disposal to try to convince Epic Games to launch (and monetize) Fortnite through the App Store, but it was unsuccessful. Android officials disagreed with Epic Games’ decisions to circumvent the terms of service for its devices and took actions that the company interpreted as a violation of US competition laws. In this sense, the reading is clear. Turning down the aforementioned $150 million could change the history of video games – and apps – on mobile devices forever.
He rejected 150 million euros to change the history of video games
If we stick to purely financial considerations, it seems like Epic Games made a good decision. Google’s plan calls for paying it $147 million over three years. An amount that would not have compensated for what Fortnite players would have lost by simply being in the store. In fact, the Android Store takes between 15 and 30% from developers for every transaction made through its systems. In this sense, the process would have started generating profits for Google (and a loss for Epic) once BR had raised between $500 and $1 billion on this platform. To give you an idea, before its first year on iOS, the game managed the same $500 million in revenue (via Sensor tower).
No one expected revenues for the mobile version of Fortnite to be this high, but Android executives were afraid of two things. First, they estimated that Fortnite’s absence in the App Store could result in a 150-250 million drop in revenue collected by the store. But above all, they feared that this decision would be contagious. Other companies could take inspiration from Epic Games’ decision, leading to increasing losses over the years. If this possibility is confirmed, the deficit will rise from $550 million to $3.6 billion.
