Epic promises Fortnite is coming back to iOS in the EU this year, but it’s not done fighting with Apple

After four years, Fortnite is coming back to iPhones and iPads in Europe

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

In light of new regulations in the EU and Apple’s new policies to comply with them,Fortniteis finally coming back to iOS in 2024 - at least in Europe. But Epic and Apple aren’t done fighting with each other.

The EU’s Digital Markets Act passed in 2022 and is set to come into effect for companies like Apple in March 2024, providing new regulations intended to create more competition in digital marketplaces. Today, Appleannouncedwhat its compliance will look like. There’s a terrific write-up fromThe Vergebreaking down the nitty-gritty, but in essence, developers will now have a path to create third-party stores on iOS, separate from the App Store, that can use third-party payment processors to bypass Apple’s fees.

Shortly after the announcement, Epictweetedthat “Fortnite will return to iOS in Europe in 2024, distributed by the upcomingEpic GamesStore 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.”

Neither Apple nor Epic is happy about the current state of things in the EU. Apple says its compliance with the new regulations will require it to “open new avenues for malware, fraud and scams, illicit and harmful content, and other privacy and security threats.” Meanwhile, Epic bossTim Sweeney callsApple’s outline a “plan to thwart Europe’s new Digital Markets Act law” that acts as a “devious new instance of Malicious Compliance.”

Back in 2020, Epic introduced a direct payment system in Fortnite that bypassed Apple’s fees for V-Bucks purchases. Apple responded by removing Fortnite from the App Store. Epic then kicked off a campaign rallying against Apple’s marketplace control, backed with a marketing campaign calledFree Fortnite, intended to win the hearts and minds of players. I’m not sure if anybody who plays Fortnite really cares who wins what amounts to a corporate slap fight over where certain percentages of billion dollar profits are going, but various international legal battles have been ongoing ever since.

If you need some help clearing the latestFortnite Quests, you can follow that link for all the details about Season 1 of Chapter 5.

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He’s been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

Rumored Warzone 2025 map Avalon appears to be fully explorable in Black Ops 6 spectator mode, and with it comes a classic Call of Duty: World at War map

Fortnite is saying goodbye to its various Battle Pass currencies and hello to good old fashioned XP, with rewards soon unlockable no matter what modes you play

“At least one” Game of Thrones movie is reportedly in early development at Warner Bros.