Free to play battle royale game, Fortnite, is available on various platforms but it isn’t available yet on Android. With Samsung getting ready to release their Galaxy Note9, it appears that this productivity smartphone might be the first Android device to get it.
Currently available on iOS, the game is expected to be arrive on the Android platform within this quarter. The game developer, Epic Games, has confirmed that they will be bypassing the Google Play Store. This is to avoid paying a 30% cut to Google which they deemed to be disproportionate to the cost of the services these stores perform.
As a result, Android users will have to get the game as an APK download from the official website. Compared to typical Play Store downloads, this would require additional permissions while installing.
For iOS, they can’t bypass the Apple AppStore and it was reported that they have made US$15 million in the first three weeks for in-app purchases.
It has been speculated that the Galaxy Note9 will be the launch device for Fortnite’s Android edition. To add more credibility to the rumour, the folks at XDA Developers have obtained the APK installer for game and it does appear to check if the device is a Galaxy Note9. When they decompile the code, they found a few lines which verifies if the device is a Samsung with the model “crown”, a code name for the Galaxy Note9.
Interestingly, it also checks if the device comes with a Bluetooth enabled S Pen. It isn’t clear if this means you could play Fornite with a stylus or this is simply used for verification purposes.
It’s also speculated that the Fortnite exclusivity with Samsung might last anywhere between 30 to 120 days. As a pre-order promo, Samsung is said to be bundling free 15,000 V-Bucks for Galaxy Note9 owners which is about US$100-150 in value.
