Fortnite Returns to the US Apple App Store After Almost Five Years

Fortnite is finally available on iOS devices again, five years after it was taken off the App Store. The popular battle royale game was removed from Apple’s mobile storefront after it tried to circumvent Apple’s 30% commission on in-app purchases by implementing an alternative payment processing option that links outside the App Store, which is a policy violation.

“Thanks to everyone who supported the effort to open up mobile competition and #FreeFortnite from the very beginning. And thanks to all of the folks who initially sided with Apple then later came around to the winning side, supporting app developer rights and consumer rights,” said Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney in a post on X regarding Fortnite’s return to the US App Store.

Yesterday, Sweeney published a post on X containing a screenshot of an order to show cause filing regarding Apple’s continuous blocking of Fortnite from being added to the App Store. The filing stemmed from Apple’s email to Epic Games saying that it will not act on Fortnite’s submission until it receives a court ruling on its stay request.

On April 30, Epic Games won a lawsuit against Apple for anticompetitive practices in the App Store. This includes the previously mentioned prohibition of developers using an alternative payment processor. Upon winning the lawsuit, Sweeney posted on X that Fortnite will be back on iOS devices the following week. The game was not added until today.

Fortnite was originally released on the Epic Games Store for the PC in 2017. The next year, it was added to both the App Store and the Google Play Store.