After Apple, it’s Google’s turn to remove Fortnite from the Play Store. The publisher of Android has taken this step after the highlight of a practice that goes against the terms of use of the Google Play Store by Epic Games.
Tuesday evening was marked by a major communication campaign by Epic Games against Apple. However, the Cupertino company is not the only one to have taken the decision to ban Fortnite from its application store.
Earlier there was a tiff between Epic games boss, Google, and Apple, Epic games boss blatantly criticized Apple and Google for unfair competition and unfair practices regarding the store policies.
Indeed, after Apple, it is Google’s turn to react against the decision taken by Epic Games to integrate a third-party payment method to buy V Bucks cheaper. Google has chosen to ban Fortnite from its Play Store. It must be said that as in the case of the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store prohibits practices aimed at exceeding the 30% commission levied by Google, Google says, “Developers who offer products within a downloaded game on Google Play or provide access to content must use Google Play billing as a payment method ”.
One would have expected that Google would let it sink this time after the trap set by Epic Games against Apple. As soon as the firm decided to ban Fortnite from the App Store, Epic Games attacked Apple from all sides, first in court, then within its own game by broadcasting a propaganda spot parodying the 1984 Apple advertisement. A hashtag was even launched, urging players to support Epic Games in their fight against Apple.
However, Google in turn decided to ban Fortnite from the Play Store. Asked by the portal The Verge, the Mountain View firm defends its position while saying it is open to dialogue:
Google says, “Android’s open ecosystem lets developers distribute their apps across multiple app stores. For game developers who choose to use the Play Store, we have a consistent policy that’s fair to developers and gamers. If Fortnite remains available on Android, we can no longer make it available on the Google Play Store due to violations of our policy. However, we welcome the option of continuing our discussions with Epic to bring Fortnite to Google Play again.”
Unlike Fortnite’s position on iOS, the disappearance of the Epic Games Launcher from the Google Play Store, therefore, does not completely eliminate Fortnite from Android. It must be said that the appearance of the game on the Google application store is a novelty that only dates from last April. For a year and a half, the game had only been available in APK version on the publisher’s website or in third-party application stores like Samsung’s Galaxy Apps. So it should be a return to square one for Epic Games. Unsurprisingly, Epic decided in the wake of Google’s announcement to file a complaint against the publisher of the Play Store. For the time being, however, no propaganda spot has been broadcast to the players.
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