The Play Store is full of malware. The claim you are safer with it is marketing FUD that makes Google billions of dollars. Google runs a relatively poor malware scanner that is industry-worst (see below), and its easy for people to make fake listings on it that look legitimate to the untrained eye, since anyone can submit there. (Meanwhile, the only game you can install from Fortnite.com is official.)

https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/mobile-devices/