Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny made an important announcement on Twitter. Fortnite is now free-to-play for all the existing platforms and devices including iOS, Android, Windows, and more. Furthermore, players can cherish Fortnite on their system browsers via the Xbox Cloud gaming service.
The announcement also highlights that no subscription is required to play Fortnite. Sweeny also took a dig at Apple’s 30% cut.
Tim Sweeny’s statement
Tim Sweeny took to Twitter to announce the latest collaboration between Epic Games and Microsoft. He said that going forward, Fortnite would be free to play via browser. It is possible due to Fortnite’s integration with Xbox Cloud, which is a game streaming platform.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadela also disclosed the news on his Twitter handle about the new partnership between Epic Games and Xbox. He also added that the availability of Fortnite on the game streaming platform indicates their robust efforts in making cloud gaming a reality.
Where can you play Fortnite?
Until now, users could play Fortnite after downloading the game. Moreover, they needed to store the complete game files on their device which occupies a lot of space. But Fortnite is now available on Xbox cloud which solves a lot of problems. Firstly, users do not need to download the game or update it anymore.
All the game files are present on the Xbox cloud server. Secondly, the barrier to entry becomes lower than before. Even if a player doesn’t have a powerful rig, or gaming phone to experience Fortnite in full glory, they can play via the Xbox Cloud. It is an ingenious move by Epic Games to eliminate platform dependency for Fortnite.
Apple and Epic Games do not see eye to eye anymore. The historic lawsuit challenged Apple’s policy of charging a 30% commission on every App Store purchase. Since then, Epic Games is on a mission to reduce revenue dependency on the App Store. But they don’t want to lose the iOS user base which is why the Xbox Cloud integration is important.
Now, they don’t need to be present on App Store and pay tax on every purchase (Apple banned Fortnite from the App Store). But there are some hurdles to cloud gaming. In lesser developed countries, unlimited high-speed internet is ludicrously expensive. So, the market for cloud gaming is quite small. It will expand as internet accessibility improves and Epic Games is looking forward to that.
