The impending launch of Fortnite on Android has been beset with leaks and rumors – notably including a claim that it may be an exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 phone for 30 days.
However, another report also claimed Fortnite developer Epic Games may avoid the Google Play Store altogether for the release of the game – something that Epic has now officially confirmed.
- Fortnite on Android: everything you need to know
The 'Fortnite Installer', as Epic calls it, will be available for download from the developer's website. Players will need to open the mobile version of the site from their phone browser to download the file to their handset. The Fortnite icon will then appear on your list of apps like any other and allow you to launch the game.
We first caught wind of this when elements of the Epic Games website's code – spotted by XDA Developers – showed instructions on how to download the game. Many were surprised to see it wasn't through the Google Play Store like you'd download most apps and games, instead using an SDK (software development kit) from its website.
The installer will be 2MB in size, while the game itself will be comparable to the iOS version, which comes in at a hefty 2GB of storage.
Not too difficult
It seems like the company is looking to avoid giving Google a 30% cut of in-app purchases, which Epic Games would need to provide if it listed Fortnite on the Play Store.
Apple will take 30% of whatever in-app purchases are taken for apps and games listed the App Store too, but with Android there is the ability to list titles away from the Play Store and still be able to run on your phone.
A similar report also supplied a list of currently supported phones for the upcoming game.
It features a lot of top-end devices from the last few years, but it can't be the full list of devices as phones that should be capable of running the software aren't listed such as the Huawei P20 Pro, OnePlus 6 and LG G7 ThinQ. Plus there aren't any Android tablet devices listed either.
Here's the full list of phones included in the website code:
- Google Pixel 2
- Google Pixel 2 XL
- Huawei Mate 10/Huawei Mate 10 Pro
- Huawei Mate 10 Lite
- Huawei Mate 9/Mate 9 Pro
- Huawei P10/P10 Plus
- Huawei P10 Lite
- Huawei P9
- Huawei P9 Lite
- Huawei P8 Lite 2017
- LG G6
- LG V30
- LG V30 Plus
- Motorola Moto E4 Plus
- Motorola Moto G5
- Motorola Moto G5 Plus
- Motorola Moto G5S
- Motorola Moto Z2 Play
- Nokia 6
- Razer Phone
- Samsung Galaxy A5 2017
- Samsung Galaxy A7 2017
- Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime 2017/J7 Pro 2017
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8
- Samsung Galaxy On7 2016
- Samsung Galaxy S9/S9 Plus
- Samsung Galaxy S8/S8 Plus
- Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 Edge
- Sony Xperia XA1
- Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
- Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
- Sony Xperia XZ
- Sony Xperia XZs
- Sony Xperia XZ1
Android Other suggests there are more devices that will support the software, and we're quite certain we'll see more devices joining that list when it's ready to download to your phone.
Exactly when that will be is unclear, and all of the information in this article isn't confirmed so it may be a very different story when the game is officially released for mobile.
