Four years after Fortnite was removed from the App Store, iPhone users can once again take advantage of this battle royale in the EU, as Epic Games re-released its most famous games through its Epic Games Store. For Android users, Fortnite is back again globally.
Thanks to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, Epic Games could launch its game store and add its battle royale game.
“We are really grateful to the European Commission for not only passing the DMA and enabling store competition but also going in and robustly holding Apple and Google’s feet to the fire to ensure that they can’t just obstruct competition,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney told Reuters and Bloomberg reporters in a press conference.
The company’s CEO told them that Epic may have lost up to $1 billion in revenue after Fortnite was removed from the App Store. This happened because the company didn’t want to pay the 30% fee for Apple and Google’s stores.
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While the experience of downloading the game isn’t as seamless as it should be, Sweeney says, “Once you go through the 15 horrible steps to get the store on your device, it works really nicely.”
Besides Fortnite, the Epic Games Store is launching with Rocket League Sideswipe and the new Fall Guys for mobile. These are all free-to-play games with in-app purchases. In December, the store will welcome third-party game developers, and in early 2025, the company wants to offer its self-publishing tools for iOS and Android developers.
Epic expects to add 100 million new mobile users by the end of the year. Currently, the company has 75 million monthly active users in its PC store. That said, Epic couldn’t be happier about returning to mobile, as there’s a large community playing gaming on smartphones.
Later this fall, the Epic Games Store is expected to return to the iPad, as Apple’s tablet will also be covered by the DMA’s rules.