An Epic Move Against Apple and Google
How Fortnite got kicked out of app stores on purpose
Mobile Fortnite players are going ballistic over the August 13th decisions by Apple and Google to pull the game from their app stores. It’s exactly what Epic Games wanted to happen.
Within hours, Epic filed suit against both companies, publicly posting the complaints online.
Epic’s initial Fortnite Mega Drop announcement was met with gamer enthusiasm. It boasts a permanent discount drop of up to 20% if players purchase Fortnite V-bucks via Epic’s payment portal. It slashes the $9.99 price to $7.99.
Soon after, Apple blocked the app for violating the Terms of Service (TOS) for in-app purchases. Then it was barred from the Google Play store.
Both Google Play and App Store require in-app purchases go through each company’s proprietary outlet, whereas they take a 30% commission.
A carefully planned attack
Epic has Apple and Google in its crosshairs. Within moments of Apple yanking the Fortnite app, a prepared #freefortnite campaign kicked off, urging players to flood the App Store’s Twitter account with complaints.
But, let’s back up and look at the day’s timeline to see what actually happened.
