It's been four years since Fortniteone of the most popular games in the world, was pulled from the Apple App Store amid controversy and finger-pointing. Today, it's returning to the iPhone, but only in the European Union.
Today marks the launch of the Epic Games Store on Android and iOS—iOS only in Europe, Android worldwide. Right now, it only has three games: Fortnite, Rocket League Sideways MoveAnd Fallen boys. And you have to be in Europe to access it on your iPhone.
The Epic Games Store is run by Epic Games, the same company that develops and publishes games FortniteMost people who have followed Epic or Apple over the past few years know the story by now, but here's a quick recap and analysis.
Opinion: Users are still the losers after four years
At the direction of CEO Tim Sweeney, Epic has knowingly made changes to Fortnite related to digital payments that violated Apple's terms for developers on the platform. Apple has removed Fortnite A long, ugly PR and legal battle ensued between the two companies across multiple countries and regions.
In the US, a judge awarded Epic and other developers seeking to weaken Apple's grip on the platform a narrow victory, but for the most part the status quo remained intact.
In Europe, things were a little different. EU lawmakers and regulators introduced the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which had far-reaching implications for the way Apple and Google run their app stores. Among other things, the new law required Apple to allow third-party app stores (essentially sideloading) on the iPhone.
Apple's cooperation has been less than enthusiastic (the company has cited security and privacy concerns for users, which is fair, but the elephant in the room is of course the company's confident grasp on app revenue on its platforms) and it has been criticized for attempting to erect barriers. Additionally, Apple has repeatedly rejected Epic's attempts to launch its app store for a variety of obscure reasons, amid a flurry of almost comically over-the-top tweets from Sweeney criticizing the company.
Despite Apple’s hesitation, Epic has finally reached the point where it can launch its own app store. Epic already had a relatively successful app store on PC, where Valve’s Steam has a strong hold on users. The new iPhone app store doesn’t offer nearly as many options or benefits as the PC version, but Epic says it’s working to attract developers to its store.
The company also says it will release its games through alternative app stores for iOS and Android, such as AltStore PAL.
It’s been a long, winding, angry road to get to this point. In the battle between Epic and Apple, there’s still some debate about who’s really won so far. But there’s not much debate about the fact that, whether you want to blame Apple or Epic or both, users certainly haven’t been the winners.
