After being unceremoniously booted off Apple’s App Store in 2020, Epic Games’ Fortnite is finally back.
Take note, though — it’ll only show up on iPhones and iPads for searches made within the U.S., at least for now.
The return of Fortnite marks the end of a nearly five-year ban caused by Epic Games’ implementation of a direct payment system that bypassed Apple’s in-app purchase fees, an act that violated the tech giant’s App Store rules.
In a message posted on X on Tuesday, Epic Games’ founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said: “Thanks to everyone who supported the effort to open up mobile competition and #FreeFortnite from the very beginning.”
Sweeney added: “And thanks to all of the folks who initially sided with Apple then later came around to the winning side, supporting app developer rights and consumer rights.”
Epic Games has been battling away in the courts to get the popular title back on the App Store. It scored a big win at the end of last month when a U.S. court ruling forced Apple to allow apps to include external payment links without charging commissions on those transactions.
After Epic Games recently submitted Fortnite for inclusion in the U.S. App Store, Apple has finally approved it, though not before some additional legal issues and delays just last week.
If you search for Fortnite on the App Store outside of the U.S., however, it still won’t show up as Apple continues to fight in other regions. But in the European Union, for example, the game continues to be accessible via alternative platforms such as the Epic Games Store and AltStore.
Fortnite was allowed back on the U.S. App Store after the recent court ruling found that Apple had violated a previous injunction in 2021 by continuing to restrict competition and prohibit alternative payment methods in its App Store. The judge ordered Apple to comply with the earlier order, forcing it to allow Fortnite’s return and to permit external payment links in apps.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers made several scathing comments about Apple in her ruling last month, criticizing the tech behemoth for deliberately undermining her 2021 injunction, saying that Apple aimed to “sustain a revenue stream worth billions in blatant violation of this court’s injunction.”
She even went so far as to refer an Apple executive to federal prosecutors for a criminal contempt investigation into their conduct in the case.
The Fortnite saga was essentially a landmark battle over digital marketplace power, one that shone a light on the struggle between app developers and platform owners like Apple in areas of control, competition, and the right to offer alternative payment options outside walled-garden ecosystems.