Epic is holding Fortnite back from being on Xbox Cloud Gaming

As part of a deposition that’s been made public, Epic Games is holding back Fortnite from being available on Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service. 

Joe Kreiner, the vice president of business development at Epic, was questioned over why Fortnite isn’t available on xCloud and confirmed that it was a deliberate choice to hold the title back. 

“We viewed Microsoft’s efforts with xCloud to be competitive with our PC offerings,” said Kreiner before the deposition gets heavily redacted to stop us from knowing any more.

With Epic Games having partnered with Nvidea to release Fortnite on GeForce Now, which is the only way to currently play Fornite on an iPhone, it’s unsurprising that they might see Xbox Cloud Gaming as a competitor. 

Unlike the deal Epic Games has with Nvidia, where game and in-app purchases go through their own storefront, on Xbox, and the Xbox Cloud Gaming service, all transactions go through the Microsoft commerce engine. 

With Microsoft undoubtedly wanting a cut, Epic Games hasn’t even attempted to negotiate an exception to that requirement with Kreiner replying a blunt “no” when asked if they’ve ever tried any negotiations. 

With Xbox having just committed to change its revenue split with developers to 88/12 on August 1st, there’s a marginally increased chance that it might one day make its way over, but it’s unlikely given Epic Games’ current stance.