After years off Apple's App Store, 'Fortnite' will reappear in the EU
Epic Games has announced that it will bring the much-beloved battle royale game "Fortnite" back to the iPhone and iPad in 2024 -- but only in Europe.
Image Credit: Epic Games
On Thursday, Epic Games posted that it plans to launch its own Epic Games store for iOS in Europe later this year. Of course, the company couldn't resist taunting Apple in the post, either.
Currently, there is no concrete date for the launch of the Epic Games Store. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney originally promised a 2023 return.
Fortnite will return to iOS in Europe in 2024, distributed by the upcoming @EpicGames Store for iOS. Stay tuned for details as we figure out the regulatory timeline. We'll continue to argue to the courts and regulators that Apple is breaking the law. https://t.co/MHh6EGVinC
-- Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom)
As Epic Games Newsroom notes, the company will need to figure out the regulatory timeline. The company also stated that it would "continue to argue to the courts and regulators that Apple is breaking the law."
Epic's decision to bring Fortnite back to iOS was spurred by Apple's recent announcement that as of iOS 17.4, developers will be allowed to offer alternative app stores in the European Union.
On Thursday, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney fired back at Apple for implementing an "anticompetitive scheme rife with junk fees."
Epic and Apple were locked in a seemingly never-ending legal battle that began in 2020 when Epic first skirted Apple's rules for in-app purchases. The US Supreme Court declined to hear both Epic's and Apple's appeal, so that aspect of the saga has ended.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
DOA
Sometimes you just say no, this is one of them a Flash moment.....
Apple has voided their license with what appears to be a lifetime ban, as is their right (and no, the EU can’t overrule them, since Epic was aware of the penalty for breaking the rules and broke them anyway).
We have yet to know what the EU thinks about the fine print in Apple’s plans.
The idea of Apple having the last word over what stores are approved might be frowned upon, as might the imposition by Apple that certain financial backing is also required.
And then there is the fact that any Epic App Store would not technically be from the same company that is battling Apple in the US. No doubt an Epic EU company, constituted within the EU would handle that.
https://www.demandsage.com/fortnite-statistics/
https://www.sportskeeda.com/fortnite/fortnite-breaks-record-44-7-million-players-epic-games-thanks-community
https://www.statista.com/statistics/746230/fortnite-players/
Over 44m in one day in November last year.
Recently another game has been making headlines but it may not stick:
https://www.ign.com/articles/palworlds-daily-active-players-briefly-surpassed-fortnite-on-xbox-in-the-us
https://steamcharts.com/
Fortnite has been running for 6 years and it seems inevitable that people would stop playing but GTA V is over 10 years old and people are still playing, same with Counter-Strike (over 20 years):
https://www.twitchmetrics.net/games/viewership
Epic is banking on Fortnite being their main source of income, it generates a few billion per year:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1234106/epic-games-annual-revenue/
They want it to be a virtual universe that people use all the time. But, 90% of their player base is emotionally unstable men under 30:
I guess they will have a player base as long as that group doesn't find something better to do with their time. It's not producing healthy behavior in young people.
It is risky to put all the company's stability on one product, that's probably why the built the Epic Game Store. Their Unreal Engine revenue isn't enough but with a game store like Valve that has hundreds of millions of players buying games, that could eventually generate billions in profit every year and they want the same store on iOS and Android.
They (and Tencent) basically want some/all of the billions that Apple and Google make from app store games for themselves.