Epic Games announced that Apple has unlocked its developer account as part of its 2023 results review; This means iPhone owners will be able to download Fortnite again in the near future. The publisher will open its own mobile game store in Europe.

Epic Games had announced plans to open its own game store for iOS and thus bring Fortnite back to iPhone at the end of January, but at that time it was not yet clear whether Apple would return the developer account. In 2020, the account was banned after Epic Games implemented its own payment system in Fortnite for iOS, bypassing the App Store. This provoked a long trial in which neither side gained a decisive victory; The competitor’s account was never restored by Apple.

The situation has changed on the eve of the entry into force of the European “Digital Markets Act” (DMA). Its provisions propose that Apple open its iOS ecosystem to third-party app stores in the EU. Epic Games will launch its own platform this year. “I will be the first to acknowledge Apple’s conscientious move in our disastrous antitrust battle to give Epic Games Sweden AB a developer account under the ‘Digital Markets Act’ to operate the Epic Games Store and Fortnite in Europe,” he said in a statement. . Tim Sweeney (Tim Sweeney), head of social network X Epic Games.

Despite this, Sweeney and other developers harshly criticize Apple’s new policy: the company has opened the mobile ecosystem, but the new conditions for placing applications in alternative stores and the use of alternative payment systems are unprofitable.