Popular battle royale game Fortnite has finally returned to the U.S. App Store amid game maker Epic Games’ lengthy legal skirmish with Apple.
As of Tuesday, Fortnite is also available on the Epic Games Store and AltStore in the EU. It’ll show up in App Store searches soon, Epic said in a post on X.
Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store in 2020 after Epic added an option for people to make in-game purchases using Epic’s virtual currency, for which the company offered a 20% discount. Epic then went on the offensive and sued Apple.
A judge ruled in Epic’s favor, finding that Apple was in “willful violation” of rules that bar anticompetitive pricing. Last month, that judge said Apple must allow developers to collect payments outside the App Store and not levy fees on them.
Following the ruling, Epic resubmitted Fortnite to the App Store — but faced an approval delay. The company accused Apple of blocking the game from going live in the U.S. and EU.
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in a filing that Apple should approve Epic’s submission or show it had a legal basis to block it. That possibly tilted things in Epic’s favor.
The new version of Fortnite available on the App Store also offers a 20% cashback for buying in-game items directly from Epic instead of using Apple’s in-app purchase method.
Ivan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web. You can reach out to him at im[at]ivanmehta[dot]com
