Fortnite Prepares for last ever tournament with all platforms participating

It’s not often we see any company take on two tech giants in a legal fight, it’s even less often that such a lawsuit has a line of official merchandise. But Epic games are clearly going down their own path, and they seem pretty committed to keeping pushing through as far as it takes them.

Today they have made a host of announcements, all related to Fornite and their ongoing legal tussle.

First up is news that going forward, players of the iOS and Google Play versions of Fortnite are going to be left behind. Coming up soon, players on all other platforms are going to be updated from “Chapter 2 – Season 3” to “Chapter 2 – Season 4”. When this happens, cross-platform multiplayer will no longer be possible. This update is coming up soon, with the new season starting on August 27th.

Which brings us to the second announcement, whilst this window is still open to allow cross-platform multiplayer along with all versions of the game, they’re planning one last Victory Royale tournament. The FreeFortnite Cup will be taking place on August 23, and has several corporate propaganda themes prizes available, making this the first-ever federal anti-trust lawsuit I can think of with a line of official merchandise. High scoring players will have a chance to win this cap, to show your support and an appropriate level of deference for Epic Games, Inc’s billionaire shareholders.

Other prizes that are available include a host of laptops, phones, and games consoles, presumably selected because these are platforms that Fortnite is still available on, and Epic aren’t currently engaged in a lawsuit against any of the associated companies that manufacture these prizes. It’s again not particularly clear why Epic has no objection to Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo taking a 30% cut on their platforms, but it’s willing to go to court over Apple and Google charging the same. Despite these prizes being available, Epic is very clear to point out that:

“FreeFortnite Cup is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Dell, Samsung, OnePlus, Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo.”

Presumably, because they don’t wish to upset any other major corporations right now.

It’s somewhat amusing how muddled their messaging is getting. On the one hand, they are arguing as part of their lawsuits against Apple and Google that these two platforms are preventing players from continuing to play Fortnite, but then as part of this Victory Royale tournament announcement, they give plain explanations for what any of these users can do to continue to play Fortnite. The instructions are straightforward, it’s mostly just a list the many devices and stores that Fortnite is still available on, which perhaps somewhat pokes a hole in the idea that Google or Apple are preventing people from accessing Fortnite if they want to.

All this is underscored by the fact that it is entirely within their control to bring Fornite back to the iOS app store and Google Play, they would simply need to follow the terms that they had previously agreed to in order to release on those platforms in the first place, the same terms that have made them huge profits over the years, and the same terms that all the other apps and games published on those stores agree to. They could also simply opt not to make any changes to other versions of the game, waiting until this matter gets settled, or at least reaching some kind of temporary truce before carrying on. It’s their decision to leave the iOS and Google Play versions not updated, and it’s their choice to break compatibility with the current iOS and Google Play versions. They’re clearly going to continue to try and push the narrative that they’re the victim in this scenario, but it’s quite transparent that they are only interested in the notion of freedom and openness when it suits their interests, but will gladly cut back door shady deals to pull games from stores that compete with them.