4 years ago Fortnite and the entire Epic Games Store disappeared from the Apple ecosystem. At issue is a dispute that will pit the Cupertino company and Epic against each other for years to come, over sky-high commissions and abuse of dominant position in the App Store. Even though a long time has passed since the case, Apple has kept the door closed to its rival.
But Europe had to step in. With the DMA’s implementation date fast approaching and the App Store now considered a gatekeeper, Apple will have to make some concessions. The first would be to allow other app stores to be installed on iOS. The second will be to allow Epic to return to the operating system.
Fortnite will soon be playable on iPhone again
A date has not been announced yet, but we can predict that its return to the Epic Games Store will take place in the coming months, with the DMA coming into force in March. This is excellent news for Fornite players (among others) who have no longer been able to access their accounts via iPhone or iPad since 2020. On the other hand, for Apple, this is a new hard blow from Europe. It was built around the concept of exclusivity.
“I will be the first to admit that Apple acted in good faith in the midst of our disastrous antitrust battle and granted Epic Games Sweden AB a developer account to operate the Epic Games Store and Fortnite in Europe under the Digital Markets Act,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney responded to the news on X (Twitter). It is doubtful whether the rest of the world will be affected in the future.
We’re bringing more opportunities to developers across all platforms, and we’re very excited about what’s to come. This includes bringing the Epic Games Store to iOS in Europe.
???? Developer account secured, let’s go!
— Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom) February 16, 2024
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