Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store • Hacker News Board

Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store

#11

Post by gkoberger » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 5:51 PM UTC

The framing of this article feels weird to me. Google offers a service (distribution), and it just so happens Fortnite doesn't need it. It also completely ignores how much Fortnite will lose from people who don't install it because they can't figure out how.

A better way would be "Fortnite is big enough to bypass Google and still make $180MM", rather than acting like this is Google's fault. I mean, the fact that phone OSes get a cut of everything on their platform is already an insane racket.

Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store

#12

Post by Scarbutt » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 5:51 PM UTC

windows_tips wrote: post #4

That's a strange definition of lose. A third party doesn't contract with someone for their product launch, and that is considered a loss of money?

"$50m that google won't earn" sounds less cool.

Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store

#13

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 5:51 PM UTC

seanalltogether wrote: post #9

On the other hand, Epic will lose out on the easy-to-access money that users have available on the Play Store through gift cards or google pay. The only reason I downloaded Hearthstone on my ios device was so I could use store credit to purchase packs. Otherwise I would have just remained a solely F2P player.

It's incredibly pain free to spend money on the google store. Just throw your fingerprint on there and who knows how much you've spent.

Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store

#14

Post by lucideer » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 5:51 PM UTC

plicense wrote: post #3

"Unlike Apple, which only allows apps to be downloaded from its own storefront, Google’s platform is more open." Oh the irony. Android is more open than iOS and yet its Google that EU found to be at fault with Android. How is this not a classic example that, if anything, Android provides a more open platform?

It's (unfortunately) not illegal anywhere to have non-open platforms. It is illegal in the EU to use the dominant market position of one product to push another product in an anticompetitive manner.

The latter is what Google got done for in the EU. You might think what Apple does is worse, and should be illegal, but that would be a separate hypothetical law.

Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store

#15

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 5:52 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store

#16

Post by annabellish » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 5:52 PM UTC

plicense wrote: post #3

"Unlike Apple, which only allows apps to be downloaded from its own storefront, Google’s platform is more open." Oh the irony. Android is more open than iOS and yet its Google that EU found to be at fault with Android. How is this not a classic example that, if anything, Android provides a more open platform?

Apple aren't doing anything to prevent competition with their platform. Google are/were. It's that simple.

iOS is a closed platform, and Android is a more open platform, but that's 100% orthogonal to Apple or Google's _business practices_. Closed platforms are not illegal, while anticompetitive behaviour is.

Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store

#17

Post by atburrow » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 5:52 PM UTC

Skunkleton wrote: post #5

I can't imagine that 100% of the people interested in fortnite for android are willing to sideload the apk. I would be surprised if this wasn't having a net-negative impact on the total number of android users. I wonder if this is just to avoid paying a percentage on in-app purchases? What else could it be?

I'm sure Epic doesn't mind given their savings of staying out of Google Play.

Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store

#18

Post by yandie » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 5:52 PM UTC

plicense wrote: post #3

"Unlike Apple, which only allows apps to be downloaded from its own storefront, Google’s platform is more open." Oh the irony. Android is more open than iOS and yet its Google that EU found to be at fault with Android. How is this not a classic example that, if anything, Android provides a more open platform?

The reason EU fined Google wasn't that Android was not an open ecosystem, but that Google leveraged other dominant services (Youtube, Maps etc...) to enforce manufacturers to install Search and Chrome on Android phones.

Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store

#19

Post by oh_sigh » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 5:55 PM UTC

gkoberger wrote: post #11

The framing of this article feels weird to me. Google offers a service (distribution), and it just so happens Fortnite doesn't need it. It also completely ignores how much Fortnite will lose from people who don't install it because they can't figure out how. A better way would be "Fortnite is big enough to bypass Google and still make $180MM", rather than acting like this is Google's fault. I mean, the fact that phon…

Not just a cut but 30%.

Re: Google will lose $50M or more in 2018 from Fortnite bypassing the Play Store

#20

Post by AlexandrB » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 5:57 PM UTC

windows_tips wrote: post #4

That's a strange definition of lose. A third party doesn't contract with someone for their product launch, and that is considered a loss of money?

Yeah, that really got my goat too. Google getting a cut of Fortnite’s revenue would be pure rent seeking.