On the heels of the EU’s choice to designate Apple’s iPadOS as another digital “gatekeeper” below its Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulation, Fortnite maker Epic Video games confirmed it’s going to convey its common battle royale recreation to the iPad later this yr. The corporate had beforehand introduced Fortnite would return to iPhones within the EU because of the DMA, which forces Apple to compete with different app shops, like Epic’s Sport Retailer.
In a post on X on Monday, Epic Video games praised the EU’s choice across the iPad and mentioned that it was transferring “full steam ahead” to convey Fortnite to the Epic Video games Retailer within the EU “soon” and iPads later this yr.
The rivalry between Epic and Apple has been ongoing for years, after Epic sued the tech big over its alleged anticompetitive conduct over its App Retailer and fee construction. Although Apple largely won that case, because the court docket dominated the tech big was not a monopoly, it did have to permit builders to direct their clients to different methods to pay from inside their apps — some extent for Epic that had a wider influence throughout the developer neighborhood.
Later, when Apple revealed its plan to adjust to the EU’s DMA, Epic Video games CEO Tim Sweeney referred to as out Apple’s new guidelines a form of “malicious compliance” that had been “full of junk fees” and vowed to combat them. Apple responded by terminating Epic Video games’ developer account, dubbing the sport maker a “threat” to the iOS ecosystem. Shortly after the EU started investigating Apple’s decision to kill Epic’s account, Apple reinstated it.
Whether or not or not Epic Video games will be capable of convey Fortnite to the iPhone and iPad as deliberate nonetheless stays to be seen, given Apple’s responses to this point. Nonetheless, it does sign Epic’s intention to compete with Apple by way of its personal video games retailer throughout Apple’s high platforms.
