Fortnite is back on the iOS App Store in the US, and it seems quite popular

After almost half a decade of legal wrangling, Fortnite is back on iPhone and iPad via the iOS App Store in the US, and has also been restored to the Epic Games Store and AltStore in Europe. Not only that, but it’s now right at the top of the App Store’s Free Games category as gamers rush to download it to their phones.

It’s been a dramatic couple of weeks in the land of Apple, as Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers found that the company was not abiding by her 2021 ruling on anti-steering restrictions in the App Store – these prevent developers from linking out to websites and third party payment systems, which Apple was technically allowing, but with prohibitive fees still associated, and with Apple enforcing scare sheets on outward links. In breach of this court ruling, Judge Gonzalez-Rogers determined that Apple now cannot put any fees in place for external payments, which immediately saw the likes of Amazon Kindle and Spotify add links out to their websites.

Fortnite was a different matter, though. Apple dragged their feet, saying that they are appealing this latest ruling and didn’t want to let Fortnite on the App Store in the meantime. Epic, meanwhile, submitted the app through their Swedish developer account and when this, as a single global app package, was rejected, complained to the judge. Judge Gonzalez-Rogers laid down an ultimatum and Apple has now relented.

Fortnite is back on iPhone and iPad, but only in the US App Store where this ruling applies, and through the third party Epic Games Store and AltStore app stores which are available in Europe thanks to the Digital Markets App.

In the US App Store, Fortnite now has purchase options both through Epic, where they entice players to use their purchase system by offering 20% bonus rewards, and with Apple’s standard in-app purchase system.

This all started when Epic sneakily added third party payments to Fortnite in the App Store, breaching the terms of service and getting kicked out because of this, giving them an excuse to sue. For a long time, it looked like this had completely backfired, the company losing almost all counts that they were suing on. However, Apple overplayed their hand on the one count that they lost on, demanding a 27% fee from any linked-to payments, when compared to the 30% standard cut they take on the App Store. Epic called them out on this to the courts, and after some stark revelations from discovery about internal meetings and decision making, Epic got their biggest win yet, potentially releasing Apple’s stranglehold on their platform.

But it’s not quite over yet. Apple is appealing the ruling every which way that they can, and has asked for a stay that would let them revert to blocking external payments while the appeal plays out. In either situation, if Apple gets their way, then external payments will likely change or go away very quickly, and Epic will have to make a choice over if they would comply.

via 9to5Mac