Fortnite: Should players care about Epic’s battle with Apple?

Fortnite has been caught in the middle of the biggest fight of Epic’s life, especially as the company attempts to weaponize the Fortnite player base against Apple. But if all you wanted to do was land, loot, shoot, and build, should you really care what’s happening between Epic and Apple?

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How Epic’s fight affects Fortnite

Fortnite Party Royale will premiere a new short: Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite. Join us at 4PM ET. pic.twitter.com/BWvndK3gDt

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 13, 2020

Depending on how you play Fortnite, Epic’s fight against Apple may not even affect you. The vast majority of players play on non-Apple related products, and have nothing to fear about this fight disrupting their ability to play Fortnite.

For those who do play on iPhones or iPads, many have alternative ways to access the game, either through a console or PC at home and merely play on one device or another when away from more permanent devices.

However, players who only play through an Apple device can still access Fortnite, at least until the game's next updates.

But if you’re not one of the players who is dedicated to playing Fortnite on an iPhone or iPad, then should you really care about this conflict?

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Epic pushing their fight on to the Fortnite community

Epic Games has defied the App Store Monopoly. In retaliation, Apple is blocking Fortnite from a billion devices. Visit https://t.co/K3S07w5uEk and join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming "1984" https://t.co/tpsiCW4gqK

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 13, 2020

Epic knew their update would mean picking a fight with Apple, and possibly Google as well, and came in ready to brawl. Mere moments from being removed from the Apple App Store, Fortnite announced a series of anti-Apple content meant to get fans invested in the outcome of the fight.

But if you’re a fan of Fortnite, and not someone who owns stock in either company, what stake do you really have in the fight?

If Epic should win, Fortnite might receive some kind of content package celebrating the win but this would almost certainly cost fans money to take part in. Do you think, as a fan, you should fight for the ability to pay for content?

What of the inverse? If Epic loses and Apple maintains control of the App Store what might happen after? Would Apple or Epic refuse a return to the App Store, or would they prefer to work out some sort of deal? If you don’t even own an iPhone, would a loss here affect your ability to play the game at all?

Ultimately, the Fortnite community isn’t in a position to gain or lose too much through this fight, and while it makes sense for Epic to attempt to get Fortnite players involved in the fight, ultimately Fortnite players are both customer and product to Epic Games. What happens to Epic doesn’t necessarily happen to Fortnite and doesn’t happen to them.