Epic has made a bold bet: to bring its game Fortnite on Android by deciding to do without Google and the 30% of commissions affected for applications published on Play Store.
“On August 9, we launched the Fortnite Android beta on some of our Samsung partners’ devices. A few days later, we launched invitations to a subset of Android device owners from various handset manufacturers. We learned a lot from the beta in terms of performance, security, device compatibility and the provision of Fortnite on Android via Fortnite Installer, “says the team in a long technical ticket.
What is the balance sheet? “In the first 21 days following the launch of Fortnite on Android, interest has been very keen, with more than 23 million players entering our Android beta and more than 15 million players having installed our APK. While we are in a phase of invitation only for Android, our conversion of players invited to play is similar to that of iOS beta, “says Epic.
“Delivering the same game on all platforms, while supporting cross-play, was a unique challenge. Generally, when you try to evolve a game for mobile devices, you simplify the content and even the design, in order to adapt to the performance constraints of the platform. For example, you can eliminate objects closer to the camera to reduce drawing calls. In Fortnite, Android players can be in the same game with their PC and console friends, so we have to render everything that affects the gameplay. ”
Work done with several partners
Since January 2018, Epic has worked with a large team on the Android version of FNBR. Although most of their efforts were devoted to rendering, stability, and memory, the number and variety of Android hardware, operating system versions, and driver versions was the biggest hurdle to overcome.
Also, it was crucial for Epic to work with partners to bring Fortnite to Android. In fact, Epic recognizes that without their knowledge, expertise and hard work, it would not have been possible.
“We worked closely with Samsung to define and optimize Fortnite for their devices. Samsung has sent engineers to several Epic offices around the world and has worked directly with our engineers on optimizations and performance analysis, and has made many code changes, particularly for the Vulkan rendering engine. Using instrumented test phones and their internal engineering tools, they were able to give us an overview of our bottlenecks in performance and memory and how to solve them. We have also worked with Samsung to create the most transparent and secure installation process for Samsung phone users.
“Google engineers also visited us on-site to identify and optimize Fortnite, helping us to identify key optimizations, a memory leak, and to develop a solid frame pacing implementation for OpenGL on Android. Google’s Android engineers are very talented and passionate about making the Android ecosystem great for gaming and constantly improving it. ”
Epic has also worked with other partners to test and optimize Fortnite, including ARM, Qualcomm, Imagination Technologies, Razer, HiSilicon and many others.
This article also discusses the wave of malware developers who have attempted to direct users to fake Fortnite installers on their devices. “So far, Epic has triggered action on 47 unauthorized” Fortnite for Android “websites, many of which appear to be run by the same malicious actors,” the company said. Epic says it works with browser vendors and a third-party anti-fraud detection site to find and combat these sites as they appear.
Frances might be just at the beginning of her career, but after attending a technical school, she has a fresh perspective on today’s technology. She contributes to the site with tech news.
Leave a Reply