Epic Games announced that it’ll bring back Fortnite to the Australian market on iOS following another win, albeit partial, the developer scored in a local court against tech giants Apple and Google.
The news was provided by Epic Games itself, which mentioned on X (formerly Twitter) that both the Epic Games Store and Fortnite will return to Apple’s popular smart devices down under, albeit the company still has to review 2,000 pages of findings by the court to finalize details.
“The Epic Games Store and Fortnite will come to iOS in Australia! An Australian court just found that Apple and Google abuse their control over app distribution and in-app payments to limit competition. There are 2,000+ pages of findings that we’ll need to dig into to fully understand the details. This is a WIN for developers and consumers in Australia!”
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney also commented on the same platform, specifying that Fortnite will be available via Epic’s own store on iOS in Australia.
“Victory in the Australian antitrust proceedings of Epic v Apple and Epic v Google! Fortnite will return to the Land Down Under through Epic Games Store at a date to be determined.”
It’s worth mentioning that Fortnite had remained available in the country via sideloading on Android.
According to ABC News, Judge Jonathan Beach ruled that both Apple and Google have broken the law by misusing their market power in the way they run their app stores. Specifically, they violated section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act to reduce competition.
That being said, the Judge stopped short of accepting Epic’s claim that Google and Apple’s conduct was unconscionable by the definition of Australian law.
The landmark ruling also paves the way for ongoing class actions against Apple and Google seeking retribution for allegedly inflated charges imposed on customers on the app stores.
Epic Games has been engaged in a fierce legal battle against Apple and Google for five years, since the tech giants removed Fortnite from their app stores due to Epic introducing payment methods that would circumvent the default ones (and their sizable fees).
Since then, the developer has scored relevant wins in courts across the world, resulting in the return of the Epic Games Store on Google Play, while Fortnite was reinstated in Apple’s App Store in the US and Europe.
