While Apple has been forced to accept the return of the Epic Games Store and Fortnite on iOS (at least in Europe), it appears that it hasn’t been easy to navigate around the company’s requirements.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney mentioned on his X (previously Twitter) account that Apple blocked an earlier version of the Epic Games Store because the button to download apps on it said “get.”
Epic Games was forced to change that word to “install” while Apple’s App Store itself uses the word “get.”
This is allegedly part of an effort by Apple to set a clear distinction between its own store and services and those it was forced by the European Union to accept on its platform.
To a user asking why this is a problem for a “guest” in the system, Sweeney offered a rather clear-cut response.
We aren’t Apple’s guests. We are iPhone users who paid high prices to buy and own our devices. We are professional developers exercising our rights. We are citizens of nations with laws that Apple is not above. Apple is still blocking Fortnite from a billion users outside of EU.
At the moment, only the European Union has compelled Apple to accept third-party app stores on iPhones, albeit the company has pretty much done everything in its power to keep its compliance to a bare minimum.
This happened after Apple removed Fortnite from iOS four years ago. More recently, following the enactment of the Digital Markets Act in the EU, the company banned Epic Games’ developer account, but regulators immediately intervened, compelling the company to restore the account.
Epic has mentioned that it’s working with regulators around the world to be able to publish its store and Fortnite in other regions as well, but we’ll have to wait and see if this effort will be successful.
Incidentally, Epic Games has just launched a brand new season for Fortnite, focusing on Marvel’s popular villain, Doctor Doom.
The developer is also fighting another legal battle against Google, which received the indirect support of the FTC.
