There were many of us who were thinking about Fortnite yesterday when Apple made it plans to adapt to DMA European Union. The Digital Markets Act of the Common European Area forced those from Cupertino to make several changes to iOS, ending the situation where the company retained absolute control over which apps could be installed on the iPhone and, of course, juicy commissions for purchases and subscriptions made there.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Apple has lost the battle entirely. On the contrary, and as we told you yesterday, technology, in addition reserve more rightssuch as overseeing the apps that come to iOS, and of course maintaining commissions for operations performed on the operating system (whether in the App Store or third-party stores and with its own or third-party payment platforms) will ensure that it tells users , how extremely dangerous it is to use the new freedoms coming to iPhones in Europe with iOS 17.4.

If there is an app, more specifically a game, that symbolized Apple’s tight control over iOS, it was undoubtedly Fortnite, which, as you remember, was banned from the App Store (and also from Google Play for Android). You know very well what happened next, because both companies, Apple and Epic Games, are facing each other in court in a dispute that has not yet been closed due to appeals. And it seems that Fortnite returns to iOS in the European Union, perhaps even before the legal journey ends. The developer and distributor himself confirmed via Twitter that it will by the end of this year and that he will also do it in his store.

Remember Fortnite on iOS?

How about we give it back.

Later this year, Fortnite will return to Europe on iOS via @EpicGames Trade.
(shout out to DMA – important new law in the EU that makes this possible). @Manzanathe world is watching. pic.twitter.com/VdHWTe8i1c

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) January 25, 2024

This should be hailed as a big win for Epic Games as iPhone users will finally stop relying on cloud gaming services to play Fortnite on their devices again. However, and as you can see below this paragraph, the company’s ever-controversial CEO, Tim Sweeney, didn’t hesitate to criticize what Apple announced yesterday, seeing it as insufficient and a scam to bypass DMA.

Apple’s plan to thwart Europe’s new Digital Markets Act is a devious new example of Malicious Compliance.

It forces developers to choose between App Store exclusivity and store terms that will be illegal according to the DMA, or adopt a new, also illegal, anti-competitive…

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 25, 2024

So we’ll have to see what happens when the Epic Games store with Fortnite lands on iOS… if it does, because as I’ve previously reminded you, Apple reserves the right to notarize and oversee apps that make it to more than just the App Store, but also to third-party stores. I might be wrong, but I feel like we have a few more battles ahead of us.