Stockholm.Multiplayer shooter Fortnite is available again on iPhones in the European Union (EU) and globally on Google’s Android devices after a four-year hiatus following EU legal action, developer Epic Games said on Friday.
Fortnite, created by US studio Epic and backed by China’s Tencent, the world’s largest game developer, launched in 2017 and its last-man-standing battle royale format became an instant hit, attracting millions of players.
But in August 2020, Apple and Google removed Fortnite from their app stores for violating their guidelines by launching a payment feature, prompting several lawsuits challenging their rules to charge up to 30 percent commissions on payments.
At the time of the ban, Epic had 116 million users on Apple’s platform alone.
The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) is allowing Epic to launch its game store in the bloc, although Apple continues to block users outside of Europe from accessing Fortnite and its game store, the company said.
“We are very grateful to the European Commission for not only passing the DMA law and allowing competition in stores, but also for acting firmly and requiring Apple and Google to ensure that they cannot obstruct competition,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney told reporters.
“They made great efforts to stop us and tried to stop us on several occasions, but the European Commission always intervened and made sure that competitors could enter the market,” he said.
The store launches with Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe, and the new Fall Guys for mobile, and Epic is working with other developers to release their games and apps through its store.
Epic, which has 75 million monthly active users on its PC store, expects to add 100 million new mobile users by the end of the year.
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– 2024-08-20 07:25:50
