After completely disappearing from iPhones in 2020, the Fortnite game will make its comeback on iOS in 2024, but only in Europe. Epic Games makes the much-anticipated return to the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Apple will have to open its App Store to competition from March 7. This includes allowing sideloading, downloading apps from external stores, which the firm has always criticized, arguing that it threatens user security and opens the door to malware.
But if this is bad news for Apple, it is very good news for third-party developers who will be able to offer their own mobile app store on the iPhone and thus avoid the very strict terms of the App Store, Apple’s store.
And that’s exactly what Epic Games will do to relaunch its famous game Fortnite with much fanfare.
Returns via Epic Games Store
The latter disappeared in 2020 after the publisher implemented Apple’s alternative payment system, which violated App Store rules. The Apple brand subsequently removed the game from iOS, leading to a lengthy legal battle between the two companies that ended last week.
But in 2024, iPhone users will once again be able to download Fortnite on their device. This will happen on the Epic Games Store, the game publisher’s app store, as the company announced in a post on X.
Fortnite will return to iOS in Europe in 2024, distributed by Next @EpicGames Store for iOS. Stay tuned for details as we figure out the regulatory timeline. We will continue to argue before the courts and regulators that Apple is breaking the law. https://t.co/MHh6EGVinC
— Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom) January 25, 2024
According to the post, only European users will be affected by Fortnite’s return to iOS for the time being, as it’s thanks to DMA that Apple has been forced to accept third-party stores into its ecosystem.
To date, the App Store is the only portal to offer an app or game on the iPhone, allowing Apple to impose its rules on all developers. But thanks to DMA, everything will change… at least almost everything.
Commissions and sanctions
As usual, Apple doesn’t intend to completely crush itself with DMA and will put several restrictions in place to control downloads in addition to discouraging users from downloading apps outside of the App Store.
Apple announced in a lengthy press release this Thursday that, introducing all the changes to be made in the framework of European regulation on digital markets, the firm will also set commissions on in-app purchases on apps installed for other stores. App Store.
For Epic boss Tim Sweeney, the opening of the App Store to competition is a half-hearted victory, and it’s reassuring. A post on that this new system is “anti-competitive” and “illegal” because of “unnecessary new fees on downloads” and “new Apple taxes on payments”.
He added in his post that he will continue to fight Apple’s “illegal” practices.
