SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
'Fortnite' Avoiding Google Play Store's 30% Cut on Android Version
"Fortnite" will be available on Android, but not on the Google Play Store. Players will be able to download the installer for the game via the official "Fortnite" website, with which they can then download the game onto their compatible Android device.
The confirmation comes from Epic Games just days after speculation rose over whether or not "Fortnite" would come to Google Play, due to source code in the mobile version of "Fortnite" with instructions for users including notes like "This is necessary to install any app outside of the Play Store" found by XDA Developers. This particular prompt is referring to install of "Fortnite" on Android requiring users to select an option on their phone which opens up the device to allow third-party developers to make changes—an action some are calling a security threat.
For Epic, it's a way to bring the game "directly to customers," without the aid of a middleman. In a Q&A released by Epic, the publisher stated that, "We believe gamers will benefit from competition among software sources on Android. Competition among services gives consumers lots of great choices and enables the best to succeed based on merit." Of course, Google's 30% for games released through its Play Store is also a motivator.
"Avoiding the 30% 'store tax' is a part of Epic's motivation," Epic Games' Tim Sweeney stated in a Q&A. "It's a high cost in a world where game developers' 70% must cover all the cost of developing, operating, and supporting their games. And it's disproportionate to the cost of the services these stores perform, such as payment processing, download bandwidth, and customer service. We're intimately familiar with these costs from our experience operating 'Fortnite' as a direct-to-customer service on PC and Mac."
See also: Epic Games' strategy for Fortnite on Android is stupid, greedy, and dangerous
Related: Epic Games Sues 14-Year-Old after He Files a DMCA Counterclaim for a How-to-Cheat Video
Sony Faces Growing 'Fortnite' Backlash At E3
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday August 06 2018, @01:08PM
One of the companies I deal with that acts as a market-place charges a .05%-.5% commission (to each party) to be the middle-man (which even involves the market-making aspects, I don't even need to find buyers or sellers, I just need to create a bid or offer, and it matches me with an opposite side - so it actually does real work, unlike a fricking webshop). And that seems to be doing quite nicely for itself.
The only way that GOOG gets away with not looking disgustingly greedy is because it's based in a country where the disposable carrier bag you're given in the hospital to put your crap in during your stay costs you $8. Heaven forfend that you need Daraprim at the Shkreli-approved knock-down price of $750/pill (costing less than $1 to make).
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves