Fortnite to return to iOS/iPadOS platform through EU alternative-app storefront

If you’re a European fan of Fortnite, Epic Games’ best-selling title is planning to relaunch on its own iPhone app store.

Epic posted to X stating that it has now submitted both the Epic Games Store and the updated Fortnite app to Apple for its required notarization process. The move follows a years-long legal battle between Apple and Epic Games as to how Apple’s App Store is run, percentages paid to Apple, and Apple’s procedures for setting up alternative app stores and submitting apps.

Epic was banned from selling its products and services in the Apple App Store, and briefly lost its developer license after deliberately breaking Apple’s rules. The company has since had its developer status restored after the European Union passed its Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules.

The DMA decision forced Apple to open up its platforms to third-party developers with minimal restrictions. Apple still reserves the right to check third-party apps and app stores for adherence to Apple’s security and user privacy policies.

This is part of its requirement that apps be “notarized” as valid and compliant before being offered outside of the official Apple App Store.

It has also recently dinged Apple for its anti-steering rules. Apple has already made some changes to the policy in response, but Epic has challenged those rules in court.

For developers selling through other app stores, the Core Technology Fee (CTF) is a royalty paid to Apple after the first million installs of a given app. The fee is currently set at 0.5 Euro (about 54 cents US) per install.

There is no required Core Technology Fee for apps that are offered free of any charge.

In addition, any third-party app store must also pay the Core Technology Fee for each new download. For the alternative stores, there is no exception for the first million units.

Apple has defended the fee as being a charge for leveraging Apple’s technology and notarization services. These services ensure that developers and other app stores sell items that work on Apple’s platforms.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via AppleInsider and @EpicNewsroom