Epic Games announced as part of its 2023 review that Apple has unlocked its developer account, meaning iPhone owners will be able to download Fortnite again for the foreseeable future. The publisher will launch its own mobile games store in Europe.
Epic Games announced its plans to open its own game store for iOS and thereby return Fortnite to iPhone at the end of January, although at that time it was still unclear whether Apple would return its developer account to it. In 2020, the account was blocked after Epic Games introduced its own payment system into Fortnite for iOS, bypassing the App Store. This provoked a lengthy trial, in which neither side achieved a clear victory; Apple never restored the opponent’s account.
The situation has changed in anticipation of the entry into force of the European “Digital Markets Act” (DMA). Its provisions direct Apple to open the iOS ecosystem to third-party app stores in the EU. Epic Games is set to launch its own platform this year. “I will be the first to acknowledge Apple’s good faith move in our disastrous antitrust battle to grant Epic Games Sweden AB a developer account to operate the Epic Games Store and Fortnite in Europe under the Digital Markets Act,” stated on X social networks, the head of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney (Tim Sweeney).
Despite this, Sweeney and other developers sharply criticize Apple’s new policy: the company has opened up the mobile ecosystem, but due to the new conditions, placing applications in alternative stores and using alternative payment systems are unprofitable.
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