During their ongoing lawsuit against Google, Epic Games has revealed that the main reason they can’t lower their prices in games such as Fortnite is because of a deal they have with Sony for PlayStation.
In a hearing for their case against Google (via The Verge), Epic CEO Tim Sweeney stated the following: “We cannot sell out of PlayStation at a lower price than we sell on PlayStation.” This is due to a most favored nations (MFN) clause in their Sony deal, which limits Epic from offering different prices to customers not on PlayStation. According to Sweeney, this is standard for all PlayStation contracts, and not related to the fact that Sony is an Epic Games shareholder. Shady or not, it is a real reason for not being able to change prices from one platform to another.
Related: Fortnite Dev Epic Games Laying Off More Than 800 Employees
For the uninitiated, all of this serious legal drama stems from one fated event several years ago. In 2020, Google and Apple removed the mobile version of Fortnite for violating app store guidelines. Fortnite has its own in-app purchase economy across multiple platforms that the aforementioned mega corps were not happy about. Epic has been insistent that the current iOS/Android app store ecosystem is monopolistic, and has been in court fighting them on it. To their disappointment, Epic lost its case against Apple earlier this year, and Fortnite remains banned on mobile Apple devices. But the video game company is not done fighting anytime soon, setting its eyes and efforts on Google now.
It is far too early to be sure at this point, and the law is fickle, but if history repeats itself, Fortnite won’t be making its way to Apple or Google mobile devices in the near future. It is hard to foresee a change in how Epic Games operates one of the most popular free-to-play multiplayer games on the market, which routinely finds new ways of incentivizing in-game purchases. Furthermore, it doesn’t help that Epic was just recently forced to fork over hundreds of millions for violating children’s privacy law. Whether or not the legal battle brings major change for Google’s app store, Epic remains firm (and contractually obligated) to its current business model.
