Epic Games pays Sony for 'Fortnite' cross-play

Epic Games

As Epic Games' challenge of Apple's 30% cut goes to court, we're learning more about the company and its popular game, Fortnite. One of the latest discoveries is that Epic reached an agreement with Sony to pay extra for cross-play support. And the developer continues to pay to this day. 

This information was revealed when Epic CEO Tim Sweeney was asked by the cross-examiner how cross-platform play works in Fortnite, especially when it comes to profits from purchases made via "cross-wallet" features (including features like skins you can buy on one platform and use on others).

In the contract with Sony, the company needed to pay extra for cross-platform play, particularly when PlayStation Fortnite players regularly bought V-Bucks on other devices but gamed on Sony consoles.

Sweeney said that when V-Bucks are typically purchased on one platform and used on another, every platform involved in the transaction gets a cut. But for Sony, the company gets a bit more.

"Sony has a policy that requires if the ratio of payments across platforms for a given PS user gets out of sync with the playtime, then we have to pay them a commission on other platform revenue," Sweeney said. "So if someone were primarily playing on PS but paying on iPhone, they'd [inaudible] compensation to Sony."

Source: IGN