'Fortnite' on Android: We've got some good news and some bad news
The long, tortuous wait is almost over: Fortnite is finally coming to Android ... but there's a catch.
It's not coming to all Android phones, at least not at first. That's what 9to5Google and XDA developers claim, both citing anonymous sources.
Instead, it will be a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 exclusive for 30 days. That means if you want to play Fortnite against your iOS, Mac, PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Switch friends right away, you're going to have to spring for a Note 9.
And if that's not incentive enough, people who pre-order the phone will reportedly get $100 to $150 worth of V-Bucks, Fortnite's virtual currency that players buy with real money.
So, when is Samsung dropping its big-ass phone? Rumors suggest late August. That means other Android owners won't get to play until late September.
But on the plus (?) side, Note 9 users will reportedly get to integrate their S Pen into the game. Because that's what Fortnite players desperately wanted: stylus integration.
Fortnite made $100 million from in-app purchases in the first 90 days it was available for iOS, according to Sensor Tower. Globally, Android owns 86 percent of the smartphone market, compared to nearly 15 percent for iOS. That's a lot of new customers who could soon be spending money on V-Bucks — although, on average, Android users spend less on in-game purchases than iPhone users.
If the reports are true, Samsung must have paid a crazy amount of money to Fortnite-maker Epic Games to release the Android game as an exclusive. Regardless, we're sure Fortnite for Android will make an insane amount of money, even with the limited release.
Keith Wagstaff is an assistant editor at Mashable and a terrible Settlers of Catan player. He has written for TIME, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, NBC News, The Village Voice, VICE, GQ and New York Magazine, among many other reputable and not-so-reputable publications. After nearly a decade in New York City, he now lives in his native Los Angeles.
