iPhones with Fortnite installed hit eBay with prices as high as $10,000

Fortnite on iPhone. Credit: AppleInsider

Earlier in August, Fortnite creator Epic Games baited Apple into removing the popular battle royale title from the App Store. But Apple has not decided to remove the app remotely from user devices, meaning anyone who previously installed Fortnite on their iPhone still has access to the game.

Some of those users want to cash in on Fortnite's removal from the App Store. A search of eBay with the terms "iPhone Fortnite installed" or "Fortnite iPhone" turns up hundreds of listings with abnormally high prices attached to them.

An iPhone X with the game preinstalled was listed with an asking price of $10,000. That appears to be on the high end, since others ranged from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.

Business Insider reported on the listings earlier today.

Fortnite, of course, is a free-to-play game that doesn't cost anything. More than that, it's a cross-platform title that's still available on plenty of other operating systems (in addition to Apple products that already had the game).

In other words, Fortnite players should be able to get their fix without shelling out thousands for a new iPhone.

Epic Games didn't just bait Apple into removing Fortnite. It pulled a similar tactic on Google, and the game was also yanked from the Google Play Store. Epic Games is protesting the 15% to 30% commission that Apple and Google takes on in-app purchases, and has lodged twin lawsuits claiming the tech giants participate in anticompetitive practices.

Because of that, there also appear to be listings for Fortnite-equipped Android devices with unreasonable prices. There are a lot fewer Androids with Fortnite on eBay than there are iPhones, however.