Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Hundreds of iPhones With Fortnite Installed Flood eBay
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I could see a major streamer/ personality buying one of these in desperation because of a loss of device. Outside that though I agree with others this is just scammers trying to scam scalpers. Not gonna turn out well.
MacRumors, could you try to contact the sellers to see if people actually want to buy the phones for those prices?
And only an idiot would buy a phone that's not factory reset. If I sell you an iPhone with my AppleID and 2FA connected to a phone that I keep, I can change my password at any time and you are stuck.
I can barely play that game with a controller. How do people play it on a touch screen? I don’t understand how people can so quickly build crazy structures while fighting, especially since the original game wasn’t even meant to be played that way. Guess I’m getting old.
Sad that Halo is delayed until 2021. Now that’s a video game!
Sad that Halo is delayed until 2021. Now that’s a video game!
No, it keeps running if it is _just_ pulled from the AppStore. You won't be able to put it onto a new iPhone that you buy.
If an app is actually malware, that is if using it would be damaging to the user, then Apple _can_ stop the app from running on anyone's phone. In the case of fortnite that wouldn't be justified.
Enterprising eBay sellers are hoping people who are desperate to play Fortnite will pay high prices for iPhones with the game installed, and there are currently hundreds of iPhone listings on eBay advertising the Fortnite app as a purchase perk.
Many of the prices listed are astronomical, ranging from over $1,000 to up to $10,000 (as noted by Business Insider), but there are some devices available that are reasonably priced. Unsurprisingly, few of the iPhones priced at thousands of dollars have bids, as most people don't appear that desperate to play Fortnite on a mobile device at this time.
There's one iPhone 8 with Fortnite installed that has two bids over $4,000, but those are most likely fake bids. An iPhone SE 2020 with Fortnite is currently priced at $345, which is reasonable, and there's an iPhone XS with Fortnite that's going for $233 at the current time. Given the myriad other ways to play Fortnite, most of these eBay sellers likely won't see purchases.
Apple last week pulled Fortnite from the App Store after Fortnite creator Epic Games introduced an option to purchase in-game currency using a direct payment method, skirting Apple's rules surrounding in-app purchases.
Epic Games filed a pre-planned lawsuit after the app was pulled, and the conflict escalated from there. On Monday, Apple sent Epic a letter threatening to terminate all of its developer accounts by August 28, prompting another lawsuit from Epic to attempt to stop that from happening.
Apple has said that it plans to revoke Epic Games' access to the App Store and all app development tools, including those used for the Unreal Engine that Epic Games makes available to third-party developers. In response to Epic's second lawsuit, Apple said that it has no plans to "make an exception" for Epic Games.
Apple has also made it clear that Fortnite can be returned to the App Store as soon as Epic Games agrees to follow Apple's App Store rules and policies, but it's not known if and when Epic might cave. Right now, Fortnite continues to offer the direct payment purchase option for in-game currency that violates Apple's rules. Regardless of whether Epic makes an effort to get Fortnite back into the App Store, the legal battle that has kicked off could span years.
Epic is hoping to recruit a "coalition of Apple critics" to stand with it to fight Apple's App Store policies, which are already under scrutiny as part of an antitrust investigation in the United States.
While the fight between Apple and Epic rages on, Fortnite continues to be playable on any iPhone or iPad that had the game installed before the app was pulled from the App Store, hence all the eBay listings. It is also still available on Android devices (though it was pulled from the Google Play store), Macs, PCs, and consoles from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.
Article Link: Hundreds of iPhones With Fortnite Installed Flood eBay
are people still using eBay?
I hope they don’t work it out and anyone that gets upset about it should go get a job.
eBay is such a trash site already, brimming with scammers and criminals. I wouldn't even buy something on eBay that I actually cared about.
Flappy Bird all over again, and just like Flappy Bird it’s against the TOS of eBay to sell a device that hasn’t been restored to factory default so they’ll get some news then all be removed.
for $4.3k i could build a great gaming pc to play the game and have great pc in general
or i could build one for someone and charge a build fee within the 4.3k
or i could build one for someone and charge a build fee within the 4.3k
Ahhhh, are they privately held? That is interesting. One thing I've been thinking with this is "why now?" and from Epic's side the obvious answer is: the kids are getting bored of the cash cow and moving onto something else, numbers are down & this is an easy way to increase profit again; if they can take that 30% straight off Apple. But if they aren't a public company, they shouldn't have the impetus to please shareholders with ever increasing profits and they should know the rise and fall of a game by now and should really be expecting the down turn
This is so mind-numbingly stupid. Fortnite is a free game and the mobile version is absolutely the worst version you can play. I can't get my head round why anyone would actually buy this.
It’s funny that Apple is threatening to make it so Epic can’t make the Unreal Engine available for Apple products.
The Unreal Engine being available for Apple products helps Apple. Fortnite being available helps Apple. This is all going to harm Apple - Fortnite and Unreal are available elsewhere. People who consider having games on their phone important are going to just stop buying iOS devices - largely, I think, this will be younger people. Apple will fail to get them when they’re young, and then they’ll be entrenched in Android and disinterested in switching.
Even though Fortnite isn’t currently on the Google Play Store, Fortnite can be installed from other sources on Android, because Android, like macOS, actually allows for a multitude of stores, unlike iOS.
The Unreal Engine being available for Apple products helps Apple. Fortnite being available helps Apple. This is all going to harm Apple - Fortnite and Unreal are available elsewhere. People who consider having games on their phone important are going to just stop buying iOS devices - largely, I think, this will be younger people. Apple will fail to get them when they’re young, and then they’ll be entrenched in Android and disinterested in switching.
Even though Fortnite isn’t currently on the Google Play Store, Fortnite can be installed from other sources on Android, because Android, like macOS, actually allows for a multitude of stores, unlike iOS.
I didn't actually read this at all. If my employer somehow lost their developer license, that wouldn't stop me at all.
60% owned by founder Tim Sweeney, 40% owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent. The change to making money by having a free app and convincing stupid kids to buy useful stuff for real money as in app purchases is due to Tencent.
I think this is probably just marketing by Epic they put up a few phones at absurd prices to draw attention to this and it costs them nothing (they may actually make some of someone actually buys one) and they basically get free publicity and make it seem like people are worried about this.