Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, has finally made the announcement that many players have been waiting for: Fortnite will also be available again for iOS devices, in mobile version of course. The famous battle royale has been absent from the App Store catalog for almost three years, following the legal battle between Epic Games and Apple.
The announcement came in the form of a New Year’s tweet. Sweeney wrote: “Next year on iOS!”, with an attached image of one of the loopers (Fortnite characters) watching the New Year’s fireworks.
According to reports from macrumors.com, Apple is planning to allow alternative stores with the introduction of iOS 17. The solution would thus bring an end to the legal battle waged by the European antitrust legislator, in accordance with the DMA (Digital Markets Act) recently approved in Europe. Under the law, and its implementations, Epic Games could, in theory, bring Fortnite back to iOS, but not through the App Store. After all, the famous game, even on Android, is obtainable only through the Epic Games app.
Fortnite returns to iOS: peace made?
Fortnite was removed from the App Store in August 2020, after Epic Games introduced a direct payment option that bypassed transactions through the App Store. We recall that for every payment made through the store, Apple retains a percentage (about 30%). A commission that Epic Games was not willing to pay. A similar situation has also involved Spotify, which has only recently reached an agreement with Apple to allow payments outside the App Store.
In 2020 Apple had thus motivated the decision to remove Fortnite from its store:
“Today Epic Games took the unfortunate step of violating App Store guidelines which are enforced equally for all developers and designed to keep the store safe for our users. As a result their Fortnite app was removed from the store. Epic has enabled a feature in its app that has not been reviewed or approved by Apple. It also did so with the express intent of violating the App Store’s guidelines regarding in-app payments. Guidelines that apply to all developers selling digital goods or services.
Meanwhile Fortnite is now in the midst of Season 1 of the new Chapter 4, introduced in early December.