Fortnite Banned By Apple And Google From Their Stores

Bad news has hit media outlets in the past week. It’s even worse for long-time fans of Fortnite: Mobile. Just last week, mobile gamers all around the world have been surprised by bad news. Apple and Google have banned the popular mobile game from their stores for allegedly engaging in some “sneaky” tactics. Here is all that you need to know for the Fortnite ban on the two leading mobile app stores. 

Explaining The Ban 

Multiple news sources have reported that the two leading app stores have banned the game from their storefront for apparently “bypassing” the in-app purchases guidelines. Epic Games were accused of circumventing the charges from the digital marketplaces by allowing its players to purchase their items directly off the store. This allows the publisher to prevent apple and google from charging them with the 30% cut off their earnings. 

According to the digital marketplaces, Epic Games has allowed a feature in their game which was not approved by them. Thus, the publishers broke their guidelines. This did not sit well with Epic Games though. They sued the marketplaces for their “unfair” treatment.

Epic Games Sues Google and Apple

In Epic’s lawsuit, they called Apple a tech “behemoth” that aims to block innovation and calls them “Tech Monopolists”. They also took a jab on google. They also called Google “evil”. The statement reads:

“Google has relegated its motto to nearly an afterthought, and is using its size to do evil upon competitors, innovators, customers, and users in a slew of markets it has grown to monopolise,” it says.

Epic has allegedly cried foul on the exorbitant commissions that the companies levy on their in-app purchases. The companies defended that their guidelines apply to all developers. This means that all applications that offer in-app purchases operate under the same guidelines as Epic Games. 

Fortnite Boosts Their Marketing

Moments before the ban. Fortnite released an irresistible deal to its patrons. Epic Games offered a permanent 20% discount on their “V-Bucks” if their players choose to purchase from the Epic store over Apple’s store. Epic also released a video to throw some shade on Apple’s unhealthy practices. The video showed Apple being the bad guy. View the video below. 

So What Does Epic Want?

Ultimately, Epic just wants the 30% cut reduced. They believe this would benefit them enormously. Epic stated that they do not want monetary compensation for the damages and injuries. They also began campaigning for #freefortnite on their social media accounts. 

Google did not state any concrete plans to resolve the issue. On the other hand, Apple said that they are free for a conversation with Epic Games to smoothen things out. 

In the meantime, you can download Fornite: Mobile on other app stores such as the Samsung App Store. Just not with Apple and Google’s digital marketplace. Our games out there may want to wait things out a bit until things get better between the companies. 

Speaking of bans, you may want to read here about the controversial ban on the social media platform, Tik Tok.