Battle royale games are more or less among the most popular video games these days, and one of the biggest is Fortnite. It boasts millions upon millions of players across almost every major gaming system, but the thing is, it's still suspiciously missing from one.
According to an IGN report, the massively popular battle royale title has touched virtually every console, computer, and game-streaming service but one: Xbox Cloud Gaming. And when asked why, Epic Games business development president Joe Kreiner gave this answer.
"We viewed Microsoft's efforts with Xbox Cloud to be competitive with our PC offerings," Kreiner is quoted as saying in an official court document. In non-corporate speak, it basically means that Epic Games considers Xbox Cloud Gaming as a direct competitor.
Clearing the Air
What Kreiner said sounds a little bit weird, because of two things.
First, Fortnite is already a free-to-play game on Xbox, as reported by The Verge. However, not a lot of gamers who might want to play it can afford an Xbox system. A game streaming service, then, would offer them an option.
Second, it can be accessed via another game streaming service, GeForce Now, which came about due to Epic Games' recent partnership with NVIDIA (which also brought NVIDIA Reflex, a latency-reducing feature, to Fortnite).
It becomes even weirder once you get into the details. When Epic partnered with NVIDIA last year to launch Fortnite on the latter's streaming service, they actually got every single bit of revenue from any in-app purchase, not NVIDIA. One could assume that this would get any other game streaming service on Epic's good side, right? Wrong.
But perhaps here is what's making Epic bar Fortnite from being available on Xbox Cloud: Microsoft is a direct competitor to NVIDIA. And just like Epic Games themselves, Microsoft also doesn't allow any rivals to be on Xbox or Xbox Cloud.
Missing Out on The Potential of Game Streaming
Gaming is seeing a renaissance in its overall popularity and societal acceptance. But let's face it: not everyone has the capability to buy PlayStations, Xboxes, and gaming PCs. A lot of people have smartphones and tablets though, and that's a potentially gargantuan market that games like Fortnite can only ever reach via game streaming services.
The likes of NVIDIA's GeForce Now already exist, offering avid fans the chance to play the latest games without needing to have a console or a powerful gaming rig. All you need is a capable mobile device, an internet connection, and some money to pay for the service every month. If Epic Games is trying to get even more people to play Fortnite, remote game streaming is a potential gold mine that they're missing out on.
What's Next?
Kreiner and Epic Games are still busy trying to resolve their dispute with Apple to focus on something like this. But who knows? Perhaps they will try to consider bringing Fortnite (and possibly even more games of theirs) on Xbox Cloud, which will likely open them up to more business opportunities than they'd care to admit.
At the end of the day, it's all about business.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
