PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024

Disney Launches Subscription Deal For Fortnite Players

Disney+ is partnering with Epic GamesFortnite on a free two-month subscription for the popular movie streaming service, according to a post on the Epic Games website.

Starting Tuesday (Nov. 10) and going through the end of 2020, those who purchase V-Bucks or make other real-money purchases in Fortnite will have access to the deal, the post stated. Those who have made real-money purchases in Fortnite since Friday (Nov. 6) will still be eligible as long as they visit fortnite.com/disneyplus starting Tuesday to redeem their subscription.

The companies noted that the offer is not currently available for customers in France, Japan, the Middle East, Brazil, Latin America, Korea, Turkey and Russia, according to the post.

Fortnite has seen some opportunities for returning to Apple‘s iPhones despite much-publicized antagonism between the two companies since Epic Games flouted Apple’s rules for having payment systems in-app earlier this year.

Epic was opposed to Apple’s 30 percent cut of in-app gaming purchases. Epic said the tech giant’s policy was anti-competitive, while Apple said the gaming company wanted a “free ride.”

Apple customers have been barred from downloading the company’s games since August when Epic was banned from using the App Store over the ongoing controversy.

In November, Nvidia aimed to let Apple devices play Epic Games products via its new GeForce Now cloud gaming service update.

According to Epic, the new update would not allow Apple to “get a cut of virtual items sold within the battle royale fighting title when played this way.”

The conflict between Apple and Epic might head to court in 2021, with questions abounding over whether companies like Epic can force their way back into Apple’s App Store, which has seemed almost ubiquitous for companies looking to sell apps. Apple has said it would let Epic back into its store if the latter company did away with its update allowing for separate in-game payment options.

PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024