On the heels of the EU’s decision to designate Apple’s iPadOS as another digital “gatekeeper” under its Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulation, Fortnite maker Epic Games confirmed it will bring its popular battle royale game to the iPad later this year. The company had previously announced Fortnite would return to iPhones in the EU as a result of the DMA, which forces Apple to compete with alternative app stores, like Epic’s Game Store.
In a post on X on Monday, Epic Games praised the EU’s decision around the iPad and said that it was moving “full steam ahead” to bring Fortnite to the Epic Games Store in the EU “soon” and to iPads later this year.
Today, the European Commission said that iPads will also need to comply with the Digital Markets Act 🙌
We’re moving full steam ahead to bring Fortnite and the @EpicGames Store to iPhones in the EU soon and iPads this year! 🎉 https://t.co/MHh6EGVinC
— Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom) April 29, 2024
The rivalry between Epic and Apple has been ongoing for years, after Epic sued the tech giant over its alleged anticompetitive conduct over its App Store and commission structure. Though Apple largely won that case, as the court ruled the tech giant was not a monopoly, it did have to allow developers to direct their customers to other ways to pay from inside their apps — a point for Epic that had a wider impact across the developer community.
Later, when Apple revealed its plan to comply with the EU’s DMA, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called out Apple’s new rules a form of “malicious compliance” that were “full of junk fees” and vowed to fight them. Apple responded by terminating Epic Games’ developer account, dubbing the game maker a “threat” to the iOS ecosystem. Shortly after the EU began investigating Apple’s decision to kill Epic’s account, Apple reinstated it.
Whether or not Epic Games will be able to bring Fortnite to the iPhone and iPad as planned still remains to be seen, given Apple’s responses so far. However, it does signal Epic’s intention to compete with Apple via its own games store across Apple’s top platforms.
