Following Apple's recent announcement to allow third-party app stores for iOS users in the European Union, Epic Games confirms it will bring Fortnite back to iPhone and iPad in Europe later this year - via a new Epic mobile game store. This will mark the game's official return to Apple's platform since it was pulled in August 2020 after Epic offered discounts for payments made directly to its own store, instead of Apple's App Store and Google Play, which would take a 30 percent share of the earnings on the game and DLC.
iOS users have had to use Xbox Cloud Gaming or GeForce Now to play Fortnite, but this will soon be a thing of the past for those living in Europe. Fortnite's big return to iOS in Europe is all thanks to the EU's new digital market law, which comes into effect on March 7. This allows developers to take payments and distribute apps outside of the App Store.
Apple is also introducing a new fee structure that claims to cost less, if not the same, for most developers publishing to European markets. Although the upcoming changes will allow Epic Games to monetize iOS users again (at least in Europe), founder and CEO Tim Sweeney called out Cupertino for the "new fees on downloads and new Apple taxes on payments they don't process ."
The top executive later spotted several less fine points in the details of the new terms, particularly the terms related to requesting a right from Apple. "Under what possible theory of antitrust regulation is it acceptable for a monopoly to decide which companies are allowed to compete with it and under what terms they can compete? Apple makes a mockery of free market competition," Sweeney said in a post on X.
The angry tone here comes as no surprise, especially after the US Supreme Court rejected Epic's appeal that Apple violated federal antitrust laws earlier this month.