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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday August 26 2020, @11:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-business dept.

Your iPhone copy of Fortnite is about to become out of date [Updated]

Since Apple pulled Fortnite down from the iOS App Store earlier this month, some eBay users have apparently paid thousands of dollars for iPhones that had a playable, pre-installed copy of the game. Starting tomorrow, though, those devices will be no longer be able to play the latest version of the game.

[Update, 8/26 at 3:10p ET: iOS players who have previously downloaded the game will actually be able to continue playing the current Version 13.40 "Chapter 2 -Season 3" update on iOS, as well as subsequent versions on other platforms. Progression in the Season 3 Battle Pass will no longer be possible on any platform, however, and iOS players won't be able to crossplay with players on later versions on other platforms. Ars regrets the error.]

[...] Android users will still be able to install and play the latest update by downloading it directly from Epic or from The Samsung Galaxy Store on compatible devices.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @11:52PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @11:52PM (#1042447)

    Pay thousands of dollars for something that stops working as soon as you buy it.

    They could have paid a hundred dollars for a used Android phone or console that could run it just as well, or better.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Thursday August 27 2020, @12:03AM (5 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Thursday August 27 2020, @12:03AM (#1042452)

    If they had bought a console, they would probably never have had to worry about the game somehow becoming unplayable.

    With an Android phone, it's possible, but unlikely, because Google aren't Nazis about their Play Store the way Apple is with their store. But even if Google did get into a fight with the game developer like this, it's not that hard to get around Google's store and install an app with another store. Heck, many carriers even do this themselves (for instance, Verizon has their own app store). You can even connect your phone to your PC and load the .apk file directly.

    People complain about Google tracking them and spying on them, but Google doesn't show any signs of wanting to *control* them the way Apple does. But, judging by the popularity of iOS in the US and the AAPL stock price, Americans obviously like being told how they can use expensive devices they've purchased. Also note that iOS doesn't have nearly as much marketshare in most western European nations.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by coolgopher on Thursday August 27 2020, @12:25AM (2 children)

      by coolgopher (1157) on Thursday August 27 2020, @12:25AM (#1042462)

      f they had bought a console, they would probably never have had to worry about the game somehow becoming unplayable.

      Yeah, it's not like Sony has a history [yahoo.com] of messing with owners' access [tweaktown.com] to their stuff...

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2020, @05:26AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2020, @05:26AM (#1042558)

        In general gaming console companies will try to avoid doing that sort of thing (especially intentionally), because it's very bad for business. The entire purpose of your platform is to play games, and if your customers suddenly find they can't play a game they paid good money for, that will not end well. Sony made the decision to cut out Linux on PS3 as they decided that it wouldn't affect the majority of their game-buying clients, you know, their actual customers. I read through the second link you provided, and that doesn't seem to support your contention either. According to your article, Sony didn't actually roll out that potentially damaging firmware update to all PS4's. It was beta testing firmware that they made available only to people who were actually foolish enough to want to try it out. It seems they managed to fix those potential issues before the next production firmware general release. Subsequent PS4 firmware updates didn't have big problems it seems, else they'd have made huge news that we probably would have heard about here.

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Thursday August 27 2020, @02:33PM

          by Freeman (732) on Thursday August 27 2020, @02:33PM (#1042685) Journal

          One might argue that the people who paid for a PS3 were their actual customers. Thus, they took away a feature that was interesting / useful to at least a subset of their customers. They also dumped backwards compatibility with PS2.

          --
          Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 2, Informative) by purdy on Thursday August 27 2020, @10:22AM (1 child)

      by purdy (1863) on Thursday August 27 2020, @10:22AM (#1042609)

      > But even if Google did get into a fight with the game developer like this

      If? You can't possibly be unaware that Google has also kicked Fortnite out of the Google Play store and that Epic is also suing Google.

      You point about sideloading is still valid, but you are trying a little to hard to paint Apple as the only offender.

      https://lmgtfy.com/?q=google+play+fortnite [lmgtfy.com]

      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday August 27 2020, @02:10PM

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Thursday August 27 2020, @02:10PM (#1042677)

        Sorry, I was unaware of this. It's not in the article summary, so you can't expect me to know this... Seriously, I don't keep up with all the news about games, since I don't use them. But I'm guessing they were kicked out for the same reason? (Trying to get payments from customers for in-game purchases by going around the app store payment system)

        Anyway, yeah it kinda sucks that there's a duopoly for these mobile devices' app stores, but again with Google at least you can sideload. Can't this be done now for Fortnite? According to the last line of the article summary, Android users can download it from Epic directly, or from the Samsung Galaxy store. This should solve the problem. If Fortnite users are apparently *so* crazy and stupid about this game that they'll pay thousands of dollars for iPhones with pre-installed copies of the game, then maybe they should grow a brain and just buy an Android phone where they don't have to resort to buying used devices on Ebay (on which the games then become unplayable unless they want to stick with an older version that has very limited abilities according to the summary), and they have the freedom to use different app stores or download apps directly from developers.