Fortnite is now available on the Apple App Store in almost every country, as Epic’s protracted legal battle with Apple rages on.
Following a years-long legal battle between Apple and the Fortnite maker, which saw the game removed from mobile platforms, the game is now available on almost every regional Apple App Store.
“We will continue to challenge Apple’s anticompetitive App Store practices of banning alternative app stores and competition in payments,” Epic Games said in a press release.
“We’ve seen momentum around the world to address these practices, with regulators passing laws in Japan, the European Union, and the United Kingdom – but time and time again Apple has evaded the laws with scare screens, fees, and onerous requirements. It’s time for regulators to truly enforce the laws so developers and consumers around the world can benefit from an open and fair mobile app ecosystem.”
Epic notes that the game isn’t on the Australian App Store yet.
“[In Australia] Epic won its court case against Apple, the Court found many of Apple’s developer terms are unlawful, and yet Apple continues to enforce those terms. Epic is now asking the Court to bring Apple’s unlawful conduct to an end and to make orders that will benefit all app developers and iOS users.
“Epic can’t return under an illegal payment arrangement with Apple, so unless Apple agrees to adopt lawful payment terms in the interim, we must wait for a Court decision.”
The Epic vs Apple legal drama stretches back to 2020, when the Fortnite publisher sued Apple for taking a 30% cut on all in-app purchases and banning alternative payment methods outside Apple’s ecosystem.
At the time, Epic tried to bypass Apple’s platform fees in 2020 by adding a new direct payment option in Fortnite, but Apple then removed the game from the App Store and terminated Epic’s developer account.
In March, Epic Games laid off over 1000 employees, which Tim Sweeney partially blamed on a “downturn in Fortnite engagement” at the time.
In February, Epic released a Year in Review retrospective which stated that “while overall gameplay hours declined year over year, hours in third-party titles increased by 4%”, implying that Fortnite’s numbers had dropped.
Earlier this month, the company also announced that it was increasing the price of V-Bucks in Fortnite, saying: “The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills.”
As part of its Year in Review, Epic also announced that PC players spent $1.16 billion on the Epic Games Store last year, while Statista estimates that Epic Games generated $6.21 billion in gross revenue last year overall.
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