The world famous battle-royale game Fortnite is removed from Apple’s App Store after Epic Games announced “Fortnite Mega Drop“.
Epic Games announced a new payment system through which users can directly pay to Epic Games, bypassing the standard 30% cut usually charged in App/Play Store.
Apple responded to this decision by removing Fortnite from its App Store as it “violates the guidelines regarding in-app payments” of App Store. The game was also removed from Google Play Store but it can be downloaded from Epic Games official website.
Fortnite has quickly responded to this move, and sought legal route to end “Apple’s anti-competitive restrictions on mobile device marketplace.” Also Epic games launched a hashtag ‘#FreeFortnite’ and called out it player base to take actions. They also released a short clip on YouTube mocking Apple.
According to the new implementations, players can choose from two options for any in-app purchases. If a player has to purchase 1000 V-bucks, usually they have to pay $9.99 through the normal system but with the new system, the players can opt to pay a discounted price of $7.99 through Epic direct payment.
Although App Store has removed the game, players can still continue if it is already installed on their devices. Fortnite cannot push any major updates until this issue is solved but the payment system and game is running smoothly for now.
Google Play Store cannot restrict the game on such a level because third-party apps can be easily installed on android through multiple sources and Fortnite has already opted this route, making the game available on its website.
