Fortnite is coming back to the iPhone, but only in some parts of the world

If you're someone who used to play Fortnite on the iPhone or iPad and has been missing the game since it was kicked out of the App Store, you might be in for a good time. That's after Epic Games confirmed that Fortnite is coming back to Apple's portable devices. But that isn't quite the end of the story and it definitely isn't as simple as you might have hoped.

Instead, Fortnite isn't coming to the App Store and it's unlikely that it ever will at this point. Apple kicked it out of the App Store after Epic Games broke the rules over third-party payment methods years ago. But new EU rules have now forced Apple to allow third-party app stores onto the iPhone in a change that will change the way people use those iPhones forever. And Epic Games has already confirmed that it intends to launch its own app store on the iPhone, and that store will host Fortnite to allow iPhone and iPad owners to download it from there.

While Fortnite is currently playable on those devices via cloud gaming services like NVIDIA GeForce Now, the experience isn't the same as playing a local game running on the device itself. There's little doubt that a dedicated app will be a better option for gamers, and now it seems that it's finally going to happen.

However, as good as this news is for gamers it's only going to be of use to people who happen to live in the EU because that's the one territory where Apple will be forced to allow third-party app stores. However, there is a suggestion that we should expect international lawmakers to pay close attention to how the situation in the EU pans out.

However, as positive as all of this is for gamers Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney isn't happy with his lot. Instead, he accused Apple on the social network X of being "devious" in the way it has rolled out these EU App Store changes. Apple will charge a 0.50 euro fee per user per year for apps installed via third-party app stores, a figure which will add up quickly if you're a company like Epic Games and people are downloading an app as popular as Fortnite. Epic's Fortnite won't be the only game that it releases in that store of course, so the company can likely expect its costs to mount up pretty quickly indeed so it's no surprise that Sweeney isn't happy about the way things are going - even if Fortnite will finally come back to the iPhone soon.