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Fortnite’s mobile app is returning to iPhones in Europe and Android devices worldwide, four years after it was pulled from Apple and Google’s app stores in a high-profile antitrust fight.
The return of one of the world’s most popular video games to the two dominant mobile platforms, which comes alongside the launch of its developer Epic Games’ own mobile app store, shows how EU regulation is starting to affect Big Tech giants.
Crediting the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which forces digital “gatekeepers” to open up their platforms to rivals, Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney said “the tide is turning” as both Apple and Google come under pressure from regulators and courts around the world.
Fortnite and other Epic Games titles Fall Guys and Rocket League Sideswipe are coming to iOS in Europe and to Android worldwide, available through the new Epic Games Store, as well as from other alternative app stores including Aptoide and AltStore that have launched in the EU following the DMA’s introduction.
“We want to help every store reach users who offer developers great terms,” Sweeney said. “We’ll be bringing all of our games to them and trying to establish a spirit of helping all developers and recognising that a rising tide lifts all boats.”
Apple said: “The DMA required us to enable new capabilities for developers in the EU and we have worked to make them as easy as possible for users while also trying to protect their privacy and security.”
Seven years after it was first introduced, Fortnite remains incredibly popular with gamers. Data from Ampere Analysis, a research group, shows that 35mn people played Fortnite for more than 600mn hours in July on Xbox and PlayStation, making the free-to-play title “the biggest game on those consoles by far” by player activity, according to analyst Piers Harding-Rolls.
Apple and Google pulled Epic’s games from the App Store and Play Store in August 2020, when the North Carolina-based developer sued them in the US for allegedly monopolistic practices. The ejection was triggered when Epic deliberately bypassed the platforms’ mandatory in-app billing systems, in protest at their fees on digital purchases. Fortnite and other Epic titles remain banned from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store around the world.
The EU’s Digital Markets Act forces digital “gatekeepers” to change their business practices, including provisions aimed at opening mobile operating systems to rival app stores, as well as other distribution and payment methods. Companies needed to comply by March.
The EU is now probing both Apple and Google over whether their app store compliance plans meet the requirements of the new rules. Failure to comply could result in fines of up to 10 per cent of their global turnover.
Critics including Spotify have slammed Apple in particular for a new EU fee structure aimed at capturing spend on in-app purchases made outside its App Store. They say the scheme will deter developers from seeking alternative distribution channels.
Epic said that the current rules laid down by Apple and Google in the EU meant there was a “lengthy” process involved to install its Epic Games Store on iOS and Android. The companies introduced “intentionally poor-quality install experiences laden with multiple steps, confusing device settings and scare screens”, Epic argued.
In March, Apple briefly blocked Epic’s App Store developer account but then reversed course when the EU probed the move. “The European Commission has intervened several times to stop Apple from malicious efforts to prevent us from competing with them,” Sweeney said. “Apple has been terribly obstructive to us.”
In the US, Epic is still in a legal fight with Apple over whether the iPhone maker is complying with a California judge’s injunction prohibiting developers from steering customers to go outside their apps to make digital payments. Epic lost the main part of its case against Apple but won on a point of California law.
In December, however, it won a major victory over Google when it convinced a California federal jury that the company squashed competition in the Android app market. Google has said it will appeal and is waiting for the judge in that case to decide on sanctions. On Wednesday, the judge said he would issue his order in the coming weeks.
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