Digital law makes it possible To Apple's annoyance - "Fortnite" is back on iPhones
For four years, "Fortnite" could not be downloaded on iPhones. Now it is making a comeback in the EU thanks to the DMA digital law. However, developer Epic is still not really satisfied.
The online game "Fortnite" is available on iPhones again for the first time in four years. However, this only applies to the EU, where the new DMA digital law forced Apple to allow alternative app stores. The "Fortnite" developer Epic Games launched its own app platform for the iPhone, initially with three games.
The conflict between Epic and Apple began in August 2020, when the games company tried to use a trick to avoid the 15 or 30 percent levy that Apple charges on sales in its App Store.
Epic lost US court case over App Store expulsion
Epic smuggled a prepared version of the game past Apple's inspectors in the App Store. The option to purchase digital items bypassing Apple was then activated. The iPhone company then banned "Fortnite" from the App Store. Epic filed a lawsuit against this, but US courts found the ban to be legal in view of the breach of the rules.
However, under the European Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple was declared one of the powerful companies that must open up their platforms, such as the iPhone operating system iOS, this year. Epic can therefore offer the alternative App Store that founder and CEO Tim Sweeney has long wanted to have on iPhones.
"Probably more than a billion dollars in lost revenue"
Epic also criticizes the fact that users need 15 steps to install the company's App Store on their devices. At the same time, app developers who distribute their applications via the App Store still have to pay some fees to the iPhone company. Apple sees this as fair compensation for the value that the platform brings them. Epic criticizes that this makes it unprofitable for developers to use distribution channels other than Apple's own App Store. The EU Commission has yet to decide whether it will accept Apple's implementation of the DMA rules.
Apple responded to Epic's criticism by stating that the digital law requires the company to make new functions available to app developers in the EU - and that these have been made "as simple as possible for users so that their privacy and security remain protected".
Epic CEO Sweeney also said that he had no regrets about starting the conflict. "We probably lost more than a billion dollars in revenue by losing access to the global iOS customer base for four years," he estimated. "But what is the price of freedom?"
