Five years later, Fortnite is back, but the legal battle between Epic Games and Google isn’t over yet.
Five years later, Fortnite is back, but the legal battle between Epic Games and Google isn’t over yet.
Fortnite players on Android devices in the US can once again download the game directly from the Google Play Store, not long after it returned to Apple’s App Store in May. Its return comes five years after it was removed from Google’s app store as Epic Games pushed back against Apple and Google’s app store policies, forcing players to manually sideload it on Android devices.
An Epic tweet confirming Fortnite’s return to Google’s app store said it is the result of “Google’s compliance with the U.S. District Court’s injunction,” referring to the ongoing legal battle and proposed settlement. It doesn’t have any details yet on when Fortnite will be available in the Play Store outside the US, telling players only to “stay tuned.”
This also comes just a couple of weeks after Judge James Donato ordered Epic and Google to provide an update by December 19th on how Google is complying with the injunction. Donato ordered an evidentiary hearing for January 22nd, where he will assess the settlement between the two companies.
