Epic made headlines in 2020 when it pushed back against both Google and Apple — ending with its biggest game, Fortnite, removed from both the App Store on iOS and the Google Play Store on Android phones. While Epic’s battle with Apple has been much more publicized, the company has also been at war in a way with Google, too.
And that war has been a long one for Fortnite fans, who have been unable to play Fortnite on their Android phones thanks to its removal from the Google Play Store. Now, though, it seems Epic has finally won its long-standing legal battle with Google, as the company announced on X this week that Fortnite is now returning to the Google Play Store in the United States after its return to iOS earlier this year.
In its tweet, Fortnite wrote “So many reasons to drop in this month…” as a teaser for the reveal. This is a nice move for Fortnite fans, as previously the only way to play Fortnite on Android was to download the APK for the Epic Games Store from Epic’s website and then sideload the app to gain access. Sideloading has been in headlines itself as of late, with Google set to make massive changes to one of Android’s best features.
So many reasons to drop in this month… and now we’re on Google Play in the U.S. too!
Android: https://t.co/Z6pkYqYsRI
iPhone: https://t.co/JNpTVneGMN
PC: https://t.co/CPsjp3XNdo pic.twitter.com/TV9b1ZlqfJ— Fortnite (@Fortnite) December 11, 2025
A worthy victory for Epic and consumers
There’s no doubt that this particular win will make a good few Fortnite fans happy, with commenters on the Android subreddit writing things like “This is massive,” in response to the re-release of the game. It’s also intriguing to look at the game now, as it has changed drastically in the time since it was previously available on the Google Play Store nearly five years ago.
While this isn’t the first time Fortnite has come back to the Android ecosystem, it is a markedly bigger reason to celebrate, as this win means that users who don’t really move beyond the standard Android app store experience with Google Play can finally pick up where they left off, though many of the main reviews being spotlighted for the game are still those from 2020 — before it was removed after Epic broke the Play Store’s terms of service for developers when it bypassed Google’s required 30% cut of all in-app purchases.
The court order that made this possible is much bigger, though, and focuses more on Google and Apple’s stranglehold on the app ecosystem across their devices. Hopefully this is just the first of more changes to come, but at least we can finally redownload and drop into Fortnite while we wait for more to happen.
