Android owners can now download Fortnite from the Google Play Store, but developer Epic Games still isn’t happy with Google’s policies.
Epic felt it had to put Fortnite on the official Android storefront because of how Google treats apps outside its jurisdiction. The studio previously made the free-to-play hit available on its website and app for the past 18 months. However, Android phones warned players of potential malware when downloading apps outside of the store, which Epic believes crosses a line.
“Google puts software downloadable outside of Google Play at a disadvantage,” Epic Games states in a statement issued to Polygon. “Through technical and business measures such as scary, repetitive security pop-ups for downloaded and updated software, restrictive manufacturer and carrier agreements and dealings, Google public relations characterizing third-party software sources as malware, and new efforts such as Google Play Protect to outright block software obtained outside the Google Play store.”
Epic will continue to let players download Fortnite on Android independently despite joining the Google Play Store, but it hopes that Google will revise its policies. Epic believes a level-playing field isn’t possible for apps outside of the Play Store, according to its statements to Polygon. It wants all app makers to be able to reach customers and offer additional payment services.
Epic cited the Play Store’s 30% cut on all purchases as the main driver for its avoidance of the storefront. This is more than double the 12% take Epic gets from the Epic Games Store on PC. Considering Fortnite brings in over a billion dollars in revenue each year through in-game purchases, Google getting such a significant cut would lose Epic revenue on purchases. The developer currently takes in 100% of sales via its independently offered Android version. The company does, however, offer Fortnite on Apple’s App Store, which takes an identical 30% cut.
In 2019, Epic said Google’s practices were “illegal” due to it tying a mandatory payment service to a distribution platform with over 50% market share. Rather than looking for an exemption or a custom deal with Google, Epic said it wants changes made to the entire storefront similar to what Epic offers via its PC store.,
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.