As some of you might know, Google takes a cut from apps and in-app purchases sold via the Google Play Store. This was also one of the reasons why Epic decided to bypass the Play Store with Fortnite Battle Royale because considering how much the game is reported to be making on iOS, it means that Epic would have to pay Google just as much, if not more.
To that end, how much could Google potentially stand to miss out on? According to the folks at Sensor Tower, it seems that for 2018 alone, Google could lose out on $50 million from their cut of in-app purchases made if the game had launched in the Play Store. Sensor Tower has also estimated that the game has made Apple $54 million to date from in-app purchases, and with about 4 more left until the end of the year, we expect that number to keep growing.
The game is said to have earned Epic $1 billion to date and its launch on Android will no doubt help keep the money coming in. However its launch on Android is a bit strange as the game’s beta is exclusive to Samsung devices for now before it makes its way to other handsets. Also the fact that it has somewhat high hardware requirements also means that it will exclude plenty of other Android players from the game.
In any case only time will tell if its Android launch will be as successful as its iOS one.
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