Fortnite for Android won’t launch in the Google Play Store, but it may come to Samsung’s app store and launch as an exclusive for the Galaxy Note 9 and Tab S4.
This newfound compatibility was discovered in a leaked Fortnite APK, showing that it’ll run on Samsung’s new flagship tablet, according to data mined by the XDA Developers forum. While the leaked APK will not allow users to play the game quite yet, it does share some enlightening details – the hardware check for the Galaxy Note 9 and Tab S4, for instance.
Fortnite for Android will reportedly have a 30-day exclusivity period for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and Tab S4, then. However, that exclusivity might extend up to another 90 days for other Galaxy devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S8, according to a second report from Android Headlines.
Stay tuned for an August 9 announcement
This all leads us to believe that while Fortnite will skip the Google Play Store, it might end up using the Samsung’s own app store, which is backed up by a string in the APK referencing Samsung’s in-app purchase API.
Google’s Play Store takes a hefty 30% cut of app sales, which Fortnite publisher Epic Games mentioned was a primary reason for bypassing Google’s official store. Samsung, on the other hand, may cut the game publisher a deal and simply want users to remember their Samsung ID and password for once.
This approach could be a major benefit to Samsung users, who would sidestep the need to sideload the APK – and all the security vulnerabilities that come with it. We won’t have to wait long to figure out what’s happening, however, as the Samsung Unpacked 2018 event is on Thursday, August 9.
The Fortnite for Android launch has been a rollercoaster. We’ll keep following the release date saga on TechRadar as news breaks.
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