Mass media obsession “Fortnite” is available on select Samsung Android phones now, but other Android phone owners will have to wait until later this month to download and play the battle royale game on their devices, Epic Games president Tim Sweeney said today from Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked 2018 event.
The news hit alongside details of the company’s latest phone: The Galaxy Note 9, an updated Note 8 with the S9’s dual-aperture camera, more memory and an upgraded S Pen.
Owners of Samsung’s Galaxy devices can join the beta “right now,” Sweeney said. Note9 and Tab S4 owners also get a special skin called Galaxy and a pre-order bonus for the Note9 comes with 15,000 V-Bucks for the game.
Current compatible devices are as follows, according to a news post from Epic: Samsung Galaxy: S7 / S7 Edge , S8 / S8+, S9 / S9+, Note 8, Note 9, Tab S3, Tab S4 .
Upcoming devices the beta will be available on:
- Google: Pixel / Pixel XL, Pixel 2 / Pixel 2 XL
- Asus: ROG Phone, Zenfone 4 Pro, 5Z, V
- Essential: PH-1
- Huawei: Honor 10, Honor Play, Mate 10 / Pro, Mate RS, Nova 3, P20 / Pro, V10
- LG: G5, G6, G7 ThinQ, V20, V30 / V30+
- Nokia: 8
- OnePlus: 5 / 5T, 6
- Razer: Phone
- Xiaomi: Blackshark, Mi 5 / 5S / 5S Plus, 6 / 6 Plus, Mi 8 / 8 Explorer / 8SE, Mi Mix, Mi Mix 2, Mi Mix 2S, Mi Note 2
- ZTE: Axon 7 / 7s, Axon M, Nubia / Z17 / Z17s, Nubia Z11
Access for players with these devices will be available in “waves” for those who sign up at Fortnite.com/Android .
Earlier this month, Sweeney talked to Variety about the company’s decision to forego the Google Store when launching the Android version of the game.
“The great thing about the internet and the digital revolution is that this is possible, now that physical storefronts and middlemen distributors are no longer required,” he said at the time. “Second, we’re motivated by economic efficiency. The 30% store tax is a high cost in a world where game developers’ 70% must cover all the cost of developing, operating, and supporting their games. There’s a rationale for this on console where there’s enormous investment in hardware, often sold below cost, and marketing campaigns in broad partnership with publishers. But on open platforms, 30% is disproportionate to the cost of the services these stores perform, such as payment processing, download bandwidth, and customer service. We’re intimately familiar with these costs from our experience operating ‘Fortnite’ as a direct-to-customer service on PC and Mac.”
While the limited exclusivity for Samsung may not spur a major increase in player count, once the game hits Android in general it could have a massive impact. Sweeney said that 250 million Android devices will support the game at wide launch.
In June, Epic announced that 125 million people have installed “Fortnite” since its launch in 2017. Analysts say the game makes an estimated $300 million a month for Epic Games, though Epic declined to comment on revenue.