Samsung and Epic gift influencers with "Free Fortnite" gear; Apple gets trolled

Epic and Apple remain in a legal battle that was touched off when the game developer ran an end-run around the "Apple Tax." The latter is the 30% cut of in-app purchases made through the App Store that Apple gets to keep. Epic, the developer of the popular Fortnite game, started offering players a chance to make currency purchases through its own in-app purchasing system at a discount thus avoiding the 30% "tax."

Apple responded by kicking Fortnite out of the App Store setting off legal action on both sides. Recently, those upset at Apple for other reasons, like Facebook, have joined the battle. According to a tweet from Kinda Funny's Greg Miller (via MacRumors), Samsung and Epic teamed up to target influencers and take a shot at Apple by sending them a care package. In the package, which is decorated with the slogan "Free Fortnite," is a jacket with that exact slogan and logo embroidered on the front. You'll notice that the colors and the font used resemble the style employed by a certain fruit-named company back in the 1980s. And for those who hope to grow up and become an influencer for a living, take note. The bundle also includes a free Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 tablet.

Now it is obvious why Epic would do this, but you might be wondering about Samsung. Sure, Sammy is Apple's top rival in the smartphone world, but Samsung also does a lot of business with Apple supplying the company with parts. Actually, Samsung's involvement has more to do with Fortnite itself. In the package was a note "signed" by Epic and Samsung that read, "Fortnite was named the Samsung Galaxy Store Game of the Year for 2020. In celebration, we've teamed up with Samsung to send you a special box of #freefortnite gear. While Fortnite may not currently be available on the App Store or Google Play, you can still get the latest Fornite updates directly from the ‌Epic Games‌ app on the Galaxy Store. Spread the word, #freefortnite."

As the court drama plays out, Fortnite users who were able to install the game from the App Store can still play it but they can not receive any updates. The action returns to the courtroom next July. Fortnite action will soon return to iOS through Nvidia's cloud gaming platform GeForce NOW. Users will be able to access a touch version of Fortnite via iOS browser Safari.