Fortnite removed from Google Play store, Apple App store: Know why

New Delhi: Epic Games has filed lawsuits against Apple Inc and Google on Thursday after the latter removed popular video game "Fortnite" from their app stores.

The development came after Epic Games reportedly violated the in-app payment guidelines of Apple and Google.

Epic Games tweeted:

Fortnite is currently unavailable on Google Play. More information will be forthcoming soon. — Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 14, 2020

Epic Games has defied the App Store Monopoly. In retaliation, Apple is blocking Fortnite from a billion devices.

Visit https://t.co/K3S07w5uEk and join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming "1984" https://t.co/tpsiCW4gqK — Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 13, 2020

"Apple has blocked Fortnite from the App Store, removing everyone’s ability to install and update the game on iOS devices, while instructing Epic to “remove the ‘Epic direct payment’ feature”. Apple is keeping prices high so they can collect 30% of your payments, and is blocking Fortnite in order to prevent Epic from passing on the savings from direct payments to you!," the company wrote in its website.

Epic said that it has has taken legal action "to end Apple’s anti-competitive restrictions on mobile device marketplaces."

Apple takes a cut of between 15 and 30 percent for most app subscriptions and payments made inside apps.

A Reuters report citing mobile analytics firm SensorTower has estimated that in both Apple`s App Store and Google`s Play Store, "Fortnite" had about 2 million downloads in July 2020. But Apple users spent about $34 million while Android users spent only $2 million, according to SensorTower data.

Because Android functions differently from iOS, users can still download "Fortnite" from Epic`s website and other non-Google stores such as the one run by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and install it on their devices, Epic said in a blog post earlier on Thursday.