Fortnite is back on the iPhone — with a whole app store in tow

Fortnite is finally back on iOS, just over four years after Apple booted it from the iOS App Store — but it’s only available in the EU. The game is launching today on both a new iPhone version of the Epic Games Store and through AltStore PAL, another third-party app store. The Epic Games Store is also launching today for Android users worldwide.

The launch follows years of litigation between Epic and Apple, as well as regulatory changes ushered in by the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which forced Apple to allow alternate app stores. Epic plans to eventually bring its games to Aptoide’s iOS store in the EU and the ONE Store on Android and says in a blog post that “we look forward to bringing our games to other stores around the world.”

“We’re really excited and grateful for the European DMA law,” Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said in a briefing with reporters. “Fortnite is finally returning to iOS in Europe.”

There is a catch: after scanning the QR code from Epic’s website, a popup appears saying “to install the Epic Games Store on your iPhone, update to iOS 17.6 or later.” This conflicts with Epic’s own FAQ that says the Games Store can be installed on “iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later.”

Nevertheless, the revived iOS version of Fortnite is launching just in time for the new Marvel-themed season, giving EU players a potentially major reason to come back to the game on Apple’s mobile platform. Sweeney said that Epic foresees “absolutely no trouble of being able to update Fortnite simultaneously, worldwide.” In addition to Fortnite, European iPhone owners and global Android users will be able to download Epic’s Rocket League Sideswipe and a new title, a mobile version of Fall Guys, from the Epic Games Store. 

Since Epic announced its plans for an iOS store, Apple has repeatedly slowed the process down. In March, Apple shut down an Epic developer account and called the company “verifiably untrustworthy,” perhaps alluding to Epic knowingly breaking Apple’s rules with a Fortnite in-app payment system that got it kicked off iOS. Apple reinstated Epic’s account after an inquiry from the European Commission, but it later took issue with the Epic Games Store’s buttons. 

While the mobile Epic Games Store currently has just three first-party games, the company is already in discussions with third-party mobile developers. Epic aims to have a “curated” selection of third-party games on the mobile store in December, VP and Epic Games Store GM Steve Allison said, with self-publishing (which is already possible on PC) set to arrive in early 2025. Epic also plans to bring over “everything” it offers on PC, like its 88 percent revenue share for developers, free games for players, and the option for developers to use their own payment platforms. It’s aiming for 100 million net new Epic Games Store mobile installations by the end of the year, Allison said, though that could be hampered by hurdles in Apple’s third-party installation process.

To succeed, Epic will need developers to brave Apple’s fees for venturing outside the App Store. If a developer wants to list their app on a third-party store, they must pay Apple a “Core Technology Fee” of €0.50 per year for each install after the first million. This fee applies to app installs on both third-party app stores and the App Store, which could add up quickly if you have a successful app on the App Store and want to offer your app through an outside marketplace. “The effect of that is to dissuade any developer of a current, successful game from putting their game on any store that competes with the iOS App Store,” Sweeney said.

Apple also announced additional new fees last week. “We’d like to use the walled garden terminology, but these core tech fees and the new things introduced last week made the wall a little bit higher, and maybe [Apple] put some barbed wire on top,” Allison said.

For Epic, it’s worth scaling that wall. According to court documents, Fortnite on iOS made more than $700 million over the two years before Apple yanked it from the store. While Fortnite will certainly have a much smaller audience on an EU-only third-party store, Epic will get 100 percent of the revenues from in-app purchases instead of paying Apple’s usual 30 percent App Store cut. Some of that revenue will go toward Apple’s fees, but Epic is big enough to weather them. And if regulation, competitive pressures, or public sentiment force Apple to soften its byzantine rules for third-party app stores, Epic will be one of the biggest, earliest players in the field.

But so far, many third-party developers seem leery. Allison said that Epic is in active discussions with “just about every single one” of the top 250 mobile developers. And while the developers are “very enthusiastic” about the Epic Games Store on Android, “almost all of them” said they can’t make it work on iOS.

Epic knows it’s got a long way to go. The company has already spent hundreds of millions in its fight with Apple, according to Sweeney. And Allison acknowledged there’s still a huge amount of friction for players and developers. “But our vision for the future is we’re going to keep fighting,” Allison said. “We’re going to make progress. We are confident that over time, we will get these things eradicated. But we don’t know if it’s going to be two months or two years or longer, but we certainly hope it’s one of the shorter ones.”