After 4 years, Fortnite iOS version will be available again on iPhones in the EU thanks to the Digital Markets Act.
Even though Fortnite released 7 years ago now, it has never slowed down on gaining popularity. The biggest Battle Royale in the World has been getting millions and millions of players year after year, sitting at around 500-650 million players according to various sites. Thanks to the availability and great gameplay, almost 1/8th of Earht’s popularity has played the game at least once – and that number will be increasing in 2024 even more than before.
Fortnite was initially released for PC, but soon found it’s way to consoles, as well as mobile devices, ensuring that whoever wanted to drop into the island could. However, in 2020, Apple and Epic Games got into a legal dispute over the game’s microtransactions, which ended in the telecommunication company removing Fortnite from the Apple Store. The only way to play Fortntie on your iOS devices was to play it through Xbox Cloud Gaming, which was an unnecessary hoop to jump through just for some quick Victory Royales.
After four years, things seem to be changing thanks to none other than the European Union – and we’ll get Fortnite back for iOS!
Fortnite iOS Version Will Become Available Again in 2024
The European Union passed a regulation called (EU) 2022/1925 on the 14th of September, 2022, which came into effect on November 1st, 2022. The regulation, which is more commonly referred to as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) tries to weaken the hold that so-called “gatekeepers” (big tech companies such as Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and of course, Apple) have on the digital market of the EU. Under the regulation, these companies must refrain from combining data collected from different services they have, can’t self-preference by promoting their own products, and they have to ensure portability and interoperability.
Remember Fortnite on iOS?
How bout we bring that back.
Later this year Fortnite will return in Europe on iOS through the @EpicGames Store.
(shoutout DMA – an important new law in the EU making this possible). @Apple, the world is watching. pic.twitter.com/VdHWTe8i1c— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) January 25, 2024
The important part for Fortnite enthusiasts is that Apple can’t block Fortnite from iOS as it falls under the operating systems category of the DMA’s Core Platform Services – so the game will become available on iPhones once more, as revealed in a Twitter/X post by the official Fortnite account!
While the exact date hasn’t been confirmed yet, the latest date when the companies mentioned have to comply to the DMA is March 6th, 2024. Apple will probably hold out until the last moment as they never wanted to agree to the regulation in the first place, so it’s safe to say that the earliest you can play the game is March 6th, but it can be on a later date as well – stay tuned to ESTNN for further details about the return of Fortnite to iOS!
