After Epic Games set up for this update for its players, Apple took them off their app store. This led to Epic suing Apple for its monopolistic demeanour. They even launched an in-app video that parodies Apple’s position using a 1984 commercial. Interestingly, Google also offloaded Epic Games later with the following message: “For game developers who choose to use the Play Store, we have consistent policies that are fair to developers and keep the store safe for users. While Fortnite remains available on Android, we can no longer make it available on Play because it violates our policies.” Google has also said that they would be open to discussions with Epic to bring Fortnite back to Google Play. It is notable that Apple and Google deduct 30% of all in-app revenues from Epic Games. With the latest Fortnite update yesterday, this revenue would be bypassed. This has created a policy violation amidst both companies. While the game can be downloaded free, users are required to pay for in-app purchases.
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For users of the game, this has meant cheaper in-app purchases such as cheaper Fortnite vBucks and maybe a cheaper BattlePass. Even though the game is free, Epic Games is said to have earned $2.5 billion in 2018 according to Neilsen’s superdata tracking solution.
Rise in in-app purchases with lockdown
With the current lockdown, in-app purchases have seen a 30% rise, according to GameAnalytics. The report also said that playtime in the early stages of lockdown went up by 62%. This is primarily because people are indoors and looking for entertainment on their devices. According to the report, gaming parameters went up overall. This includes the total number of players, time spent playing games (over 90 million hours in the last ten days of March), game sessions and playtime on every session. Also Read: What a PUBG India Ban Will Means to Indian Players
Do you think it was right of Epic Games to sneak in such an update? Tell us in the comments below!
