Epic has announced that Fortnite is finally available on the iOS App Store once again, following a protracted legal battle between itself and Apple over third-party payment systems and storefronts.
In a post on X, Epic confirms that Fortnite has been re-added to the App Store on both iPhones and iPads in the US, while in Europe, it’s available as part of the mobile version of the Epic Games Store.
Just last week, Epic complained that Apple was blocking the release of Fortnite on the App Store, leading to a worldwide outage of the game on the platform until the issue was resolved (which, thankfully, now looks to be the case).
Epic’s battle against Apple began back in 2020, when the former hosted a sale on in-game currency that slashed up to 20% off prices if customers used Epic’s own proprietary payment system rather than Apple’s.
Apple swiftly retaliated by removing Fortnite from the App Store, prompting Epic to file a lawsuit in response. It wasn’t just Apple whose wrath Epic incurred, either; the Fortnite developer also sued Google after the game was removed from the Play Store for the same reason.
What followed was a protracted battle between the two companies, one that saw Apple blocking numerous attempts on Epic’s part to get Fortnite relisted on the iOS App Store in various territories.
In April this year, Apple was forced to pay a €500m fine by the European Commission due to its refusal to allow developers to direct customers towards alternative third-party payment systems, which Epic will no doubt have seen as a huge win.
As for what’s going on within Fortnite itself, the game is currently in the middle of its Star Wars-themed Galactic Battle season, which has introduced character skins like Darth Jar Jar and Emperor Palpatine to the game.
Rather embarrassingly, however, Epic had to issue an emergency hotfix last week thanks to an AI-powered Darth Vader that was openly swearing at players. Needless to say, he won’t do that anymore. I, for one, am disappointed.
