What you need to know
- Epic Games’ battle royale, Fortnite, has returned to the Google Play Store after pulling it during its antitrust case against the latter.
- Epic’s founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney, announced its return via X this afternoon (Dec 11), as well as the official Fortnite account.
- Epic v Google was an antitrust case over the anticompetitive practices of the Play Store since 2020, which finally saw the former achieve victory back in August.
Where we droppin’? It’s a phrase Android users have missed out on with Fortnite’s Play Store disappearance, but that ends today.
It’s been a long road, and Android fans of Epic Games’ Fortnite can drop in again, as the battle royale returns to the Play Store (via 9to5Google). This afternoon (Dec 11), Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney announced that Fortnite has officially returned to Android users via the Play Store for the U.S. Sweeney’s post adds that the game will remain available through the Epic Games store on Android worldwide, as well.
The post adds, “Thanks to Google for all of their awesome support; this is the beginning of a new, open world of mobile gaming!”
Even the Fortnite X account got involved, highlighting the newest season beginning today, O.G. Chapter 1 Season 7. Its post reads, “So many reasons to drop in this month… and now we’re on Google Play in the U.S. too!” The post then reiterates Fortnite’s availability on the Apple Store, from which it was also removed during Epic’s court battles. Fortnite returned to iPhones earlier this year, and now Android phones are getting their turn.
Sweeney mentions that, since Fortnite’s return to the Apple Store, it’s jumped into second place under “most downloaded U.S. iOS game” for 2025. This speaks volumes to users’ enjoyment of the game, especially on another platform.
Victory Royale
Epic’s battles with Google began back in 2020 when it kicked off an antitrust case against the latter over its Play Store practices. Since then, key figures, such as Judge James Donato, have ruled in favor of Epic Games as it sought to bring change to how Google operates its app store. In 2024, Judge Donato issued an injunction to make sweeping changes across the Play Store.
It was found that Google was guilty of illegally monopolizing “Android app distribution” and “in-app billing.” What we’re seeing now is the result of a “total victory,” according to Sweeney, that Epic achieved in August, which enabled it to bring its game store to Google’s app space. The Epic Store on Android was previously the only way users could play Fortnite, though it was a side-loading process that Epic said others made difficult.
Now, with Fortnite’s return on the Play Store menu, Android users can have a much easier time getting back on the battle bus.