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Fortnite pulled from Google Play Store; Epic files suit against Google (Update)
July 28, 2025
Update: August 10, 2025 (9:55PM ET):The Vergereportsthat Epic has filed a lawsuit against Google. It claims Google’s restrictions over Play Store payments violate US antitrust laws.
Just hours afterApple pulledthe popular battle royale gameFortnitefrom its iOS App Store, Google has done the same thing. The company has now also removed the Android version of Fortnite from the Google Play Store.
The removal of the game comes on the same day Epic Gameslaunched a new direct payment systeminside Fortnite. It offered up to a 20% discount to purchase Fortnite’s in-game V-Bucks currency compared to purchasing the same V-Bucks via Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Apple quickly removed the game from its app store today. In a statement, the company said the feature was not reviewed ahead of time by Apple and that it violated “the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services.”
In a statement sent toAndroid Authority, Google cited similar reasons for removing Fortnite from Google Play:
Epic has already announced it is takinglegal action against Applefor removing Fortnite from the iOS App Store.
Epic Games first launched Fortnite for Android inApril 2018 outside the Google Play Store. However, in April 2020, the developer finallydecided to offer the game via Google Play, concluding that Google “puts software downloadable outside of Google Play at a disadvantage” for various reasons.
Unlike iOS device owners, Android smartphone and tablet owners can still legally download and install Fortnite. This can be done via a web install, and Samsung device owners can download the game via its own Galaxy Store app.
Read:How to install Fortnite for Android
It will be interesting to see if Epic Games’ actions today could cause other developers to follow suit, and it Apple and Google might change their in-app policies as a result.
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