Following the EU’s decision to designate Apple’s iPadOS as another digital ‘gatekeeper’ under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Fortnite developer Epic Games has confirmed that it will bring the popular battle royale game to the iPad later this year. The company had previously announced that Fortnite would return to iPhones in the EU as a result of the DMA, which forces Apple to compete with alternative app stores such as Epic’s Game Store.
In a posting on X On Monday, Epic Games praised the EU’s iPad decision and said it was “moving forward” to bring Fortnite to the Epic Games Store in the EU “soon” and to iPads later this year.
The rivalry between Epic and Apple has been going on for years, after Epic sued the tech giant for its alleged anti-competitive behavior regarding the App Store and its commission structure. Although Apple largely won that case, as the court ruled that the tech giant was not a monopoly, it had to allow developers to direct their customers to other payment methods within their apps — a point for Epic that had a wider impact on the developer community.
Later, when Apple revealed its plan to comply with the EU DMA, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called Apple’s new rules a form of “malicious compliance” that was “full of spam charges” and promised to fight them. Apple responded by terminating Epic Games’ developer account, calling the game maker a “threat” to the iOS ecosystem. Shortly after the EU began investigating Apple’s decision to kill Epic’s account, Apple was restored the.
Whether or not Epic Games will be able to bring Fortnite to iPhone and iPad as planned remains to be seen, given Apple’s responses so far. However, it does signal Epic’s intention to compete with Apple through its own game store on Apple’s flagship platforms.
