Users of an Android smartphone or tablet that enter a search term such as ‘Fortnite Battle Royale’ or a variation on it in the Play Store receive a special notification that the Android version of Fortnite is not available through Google Play.

When searching for Fortnite in the Play Store, only the game Battle Breakers is shown as available app from developer Epic Games. That Fortnite for Android would not be released via the Play Store was already clear. Epic Games offers the game since Thursday via its own site through an apk.

Fortnite for Android is currently exclusively available as a beta version on Samsung devices. These are the Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, S8, S8 + S9, S9 + Note 8, Note 9, Tab S3 and Tab S4. Owners of smartphones from other manufacturers must wait until August 12 for access to the beta. Epic Games has published a list of compatible smartphones; it mainly concerns high-end devices.

On Thursday, Fortnite was released with the release of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, as previously predicted by XDA Developers, among others. Epic Games says to release the game solely for financial reasons; the company then does not need to give 30 percent of the revenue to Google. The company also says that it can build up a more direct customer relationship with the user via the apk.

Recently there was a rumor that only owners of the Note 9 and Tab S4 would temporarily have exclusive access to the game. That turned out to be wrong, but owners of both recently released Samsung devices do have an advantage over owners of the other devices: they get a special Galaxy skin. Owners of the Note 9 can also count on 15,000 V-Bucks, the virtual in-game currency in Fortnite.