Epic Games is preparing to return to iOS in Europe as a result of the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), the company has confirmed. The Fortnite maker said it will offer both the game and a mobile version of the Epic Games Store in Europe, and shared a look back at this year and what's coming in 2024 in a blog post. With DMA, Epic Games will be able to: The mobile game store operator's developer account has been banned from both the App Store and Google Play for intentionally violating the company's rules regarding in-app purchases, ahead of an antitrust lawsuit with the tech giant. It had been.
Epic Games lost a lawsuit with Apple, but a court ruled the Cupertino-based iPhone maker was not a monopoly, but given the violations Apple allowed developers to return to the iOS platform. It wasn't entirely clear whether it would. Instead, Fortnite returned to iOS through a third party, Nvidia's streaming game service GeForce Now, while Epic waited for the lawsuit to unfold.
Today, the company announced that it has acquired an Apple Developer Account and will “soon begin developing the Epic Games Store on iOS, thanks to the new Digital Markets Act.”
What's interesting here, given that CEO Tim Sweeney has slammed Apple's response, calling it “bad compliance,” “riddled with junk fees,” and once again “anti-competitive” It is an expression of gratitude for this regulation and its potential. ” in Post to XSweeney wrote that Apple is forcing developers to choose between App Store exclusivity and accepting “new and equally illegal anti-competitive schemes.”
Despite labeling Apple's regulatory compliance as anti-competitive, the company appears to be using the new rules to compete again in mobile.
Epic said Epic Games Sweden AB will operate the new mobile Epic Games Store and Fortnite in Europe, with the store team leading development. Epic Games Sweden has a total of three studios and more than 60 employees, the company says.
The company previously promised We know Fortnite will be returning to iOS in Europe this year, but details about that venture have not been revealed. Nor did they confirm whether they had regained access to their Apple Developer account at that time.
“Please wait for more details as we determine the regulatory timeline,” the company wrote to X last month. “We continue to argue with courts and regulators that Apple violates the law.”