Fortnite
You may not like Fortnite, but you have to respect what Epic Games is doing to fight against the “status quo” of giant monopolies overcharging for gateway access to games. First, to combat Steam’s 30% cut of game revenue on PC, Epic simply made their own games store that only takes a 12% cut instead.
Now? Epic has made perhaps its boldest move yet, and have come up with a system where you can buy Fortnite V-Bucks directly from Epic while on Android or iOS, getting around Google and Apple’s 30% cut of microtransactions on the site.
How are they doing this? I have no idea, and if I had to guess, Apple and Google will figure out some loophole to close to shut this down ASAP, but the way it’s working in practice is pretty hilarious.
Update: As of 3 PM ET, it seems as if Apple has taken Fortnite off the app store. It doesn’t come up in search, and clicking on a related app “story” for Fortnite returns an error message. The game itself still works. The ability to pay Epic directly for V-bucks remains in the game.
Update 2: Here is Epic’s statement on the removal. This is wild.
Today, Epic Games took the unfortunate step of violating the App Store guidelines that are applied equally to every developer and designed to keep the store safe for our users. As a result their Fortnite app has been removed from the store. Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services.
Epic has had apps on the App Store for a decade, and have benefited from the App Store ecosystem - including it’s tools, testing, and distribution that Apple provides to all developers. Epic agreed to the App Store terms and guidelines freely and we’re glad they’ve built such a successful business on the App Store. The fact that their business interests now lead them to push for a special arrangement does not change the fact that these guidelines create a level playing field for all developers and make the store safe for all users. We will make every effort to work with Epic to resolve these violations so they can return Fortnite to the App Store.
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Fortnite just flat out tells you that you can either spend $10 for 1,000 V-Bucks if you want to use Apple Pay, or you can spend $8 instead if you use “Epic Direct Payment” which gets around the 30% fee, and some of those savings are passed directly to the purchaser.
Fortnite
Epic is being explicit in that this is effectively slapping Apple and Google across the face and challenging them to a duel:
“Currently, when using Apple and Google payment options, Apple and Google collect a 30% fee, and the up to 20% price drop does not apply. If Apple or Google lower their fees on payments in the future, Epic will pass along the savings to you.”
Apple was recently pressed in Congress about the 30% cut they take, but nothing really came of it, and there do not seem to be any plans any time soon to change that. Epic’s fight with Apple and Google is different than it’s war on Steam. While it can set up its own games store on PC, it can’t…make its own app store or phone OS (well, not yet anyway). It’s unclear what Epic thinks they have done here to make this “legal” in the app store, but again, I would expect it to be shut down pretty quickly with some sort of jargon-filled explanation given. And I am sure Epic is prepared for that, and has some sort of response or next step planned (I do wonder if this is a precursor to a legal fight). But as of right now, you can boot up Fortnite and see these “would you like the expensive or cheaper V-bucks?” interface live now. So purchase at a discount while you can.
This is a pretty wild move from Epic, and I will be chewing popcorn as I wait for Apple and Google to respond.
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