Epic Games Plans for Alternative App Marketplace in EU as Apple Reinstates Developer Account

Epic Games today announced plans to bring the ‌Epic Games‌ Store to iOS in the European Union, with Apple reinstating the company's developer account.

In its 2023 Year in Review, Epic said that it received its Apple Developer Account and would soon start developing an alternative app marketplace. The ‌Epic Games‌ Store will launch on iOS in the EU at some point in 2024, and it will provide a way for ‌Epic Games‌ to bring a Fortnite app to iOS once again.

Fortnite was removed from the iOS App Store at the start of the Epic Games v. Apple feud in 2020, and it has been unavailable since then. ‌Epic Games‌ did bring it to iPhones and iPads through Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce NOW, but the game has only been accessible through these browser-based services.

Shortly after Apple's alternative app marketplace plan was announced, ‌Epic Games‌ promised that Fortnite would 'return to iOS' in Europe, and at the same time, ‌Epic Games‌ CEO Tim Sweeney lambasted Apple's plan to comply with the DMA. He called it a 'devious new instance of Malicious Compliance' and said that the company 'strongly reject[s] Apple's twisting this process to undermine competition and continue imposing Apple taxes on transactions they're not involved in.'

While working to implement the ‌Epic Games‌ Store on iOS, Epic also plans to continue to 'argue to the courts and regulators that Apple is breaking the law.'This article, "Epic Games Plans for Alternative App Marketplace in EU as Apple Reinstates Developer Account" first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums