A lot of this is Epic said, Apple said, legalese.
Epic Games has announced that Fortnite is returning to iOS soon. The finer details on this, however, still remain murky.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Epic shared this message in relation to their announcement:
“Fortnite will return to iOS in Europe in 2024, distributed by the upcoming Epic Games Store for iOS. Stay tuned for details as we figure out the regulatory timeline. We’ll continue to argue to the courts and regulators that Apple is breaking the law.”
Epic is crediting the EU’s Digital Management Act for allowing them to bring their own third party game store or game app on iOS, and presumably, also MacOS. We had reported on the DMA taking effect in December 2022. Because of the breadth and depth of all this new regulation, the EU gave themselves and the companies involved additional grace period to figure it out.
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Apple just announced new rules that would allow new apps on their platforms that can stream games, or include multiple mini-programs. However, as GameFray explained in a new blog post, Apple’s new rules do not actually comply with the DMA regulations.
GameFray explains in a blog post that Apple’s new rules will allow alternative payment options or payment systems to Apple’s App Store in theory. However, these rules make these systems effectively unfeasible, violating the spirit, if not the particular wording, of the DMA.
Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeney shares his own explanation / opinion of Apple’s actions:
“Apple’s plan to thwart Europe’s new Digital Markets Act law is a devious new instance of malicious compliance.
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They are forcing developers to choose between App Store exclusivity and the store terms, which will be illegal under DMA, or accept a new also-illegal anticompetitive scheme rife with new Junk Fees on downloads and new Apple taxes on payments they don’t process.”
Epic brought Apple and Google parent company Alphabet to court for their removal of Epic’s Fortnite app and Epic Game Store on their platforms. The initial case between Apple and Epic ended in September 2021. However, as we reported then, the verdict did not lead to Fortnite returning to iOS, and neither did it lead to a complete ban.
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Epic appealed that case, and that’s why they spoke about continuing to talk to courts and regulators about Apple. But Epic seems to believe that they will now be able to operate their own third party app on iOS.
Since Apple’s and Epic’s announcements are still fresh, and a lot of this is mired in legal opinion, we don’t know how this will actually play out in reality quite yet. It’s clear that the fight to get Fortnite back on iOS just entered its second round.
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