Apple and Epic Games have been at loggerheads in recent years – and as a result, Fortnite has not been officially available for iOS devices for a long time. Fortunately, that will now change again in 2024!
Anyone who wanted to play the long-running hit Fortnite on the go has only had Android devices in recent years, as the battle royale title has long been no longer available on Apple’s iOS due to disputes between Apple and Epic Games. Due to a legal dispute surrounding in-app purchases, Fortnite was removed from the App Store in August 2020 – and that still applies today. Anyone who had previously installed the app could no longer install updates because Epic Games simply could no longer roll them out on iOS. When it comes to Fortnite, the only option on iOS was a cloud gaming workaround and the option to stream the title – but not to play it natively.
But now there is a big turnaround, because Fortnite will actually return to iOS devices and the App Store in 2024 – at least in the European Union and therefore also here. The reason for this is a new EU law, the so-called Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will come into force in March 2024. A short time later, Fortnite should be available again via iOS.
Remember Fortnite on iOS?
How bout we bring that back.
Later this year Fortnite will return in Europe on iOS through the @EpicGames Store.
(shoutout DMA – an important new law in the EU making this possible). @Applethe world is watching. pic.twitter.com/VdHWTe8i1c— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) January 25, 2024
Epic Games itself has now announced this fact in a tweet via social media. Thanks to the DMA, third-party app stores will also be permitted on iOS in the EU in the future – a significant change for the otherwise fairly closed Apple ecosystem. Specifically, this means: The Epic Games Store is coming to iOS and there you can get Fortnite again for Apple smartphones and tablets.
Apple has also already formulated an official update and confirmed that the App Store will also enable game streaming services and apps in the future, for example. Services such as Xbox Cloud Gaming or NVIDIA GeForce NOW could also make iPhones unsafe in the future. Accordingly, there will be new options that allow developers to submit a single app to Apple, which can then stream all the games that the respective game catalog has to offer.
After the big event last night, Fortnite: Chapter 5 finally officially started today.
