Fortnite has officially returned to Apple’s App Store globally, marking the biggest breakthrough yet in Epic Games’ six-year legal battle with the iPhone maker. Epic announced on May 19 that the game is once again available across international App Stores for iPhone and iPad users, restoring native mobile access to one of the world’s most successful online games. The relaunch comes months after Fortnite returned to the App Store in the US in 2025, and follows increasing legal and regulatory pressure on Apple over its App Store payment policies and commission structure.
Most importantly, Epic framed the comeback not as a peace deal, but as part of a much larger campaign against what it calls Apple’s ‘junk fees’. The company said regulators and courts around the world are increasingly questioning Apple’s long-standing practice of charging commissions of up to 30% on in-app purchases. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney described the current phase as the ‘final battle’ of Epic’s fight with Apple, accusing the iPhone maker of fragmenting iOS policies by region and delaying reforms through prolonged litigation.
However, the relaunch is still incomplete globally because Fortnite has not yet returned to Australia, where Epic says Apple continues enforcing developer terms previously ruled unlawful in court.
The latest development is especially significant because Fortnite’s return reportedly includes Epic’s third-party payment infrastructure, the exact feature that originally triggered the dispute in 2020. In practical terms, Epic wants players to purchase digital currency and cosmetic items directly from Epic instead of using Apple’s billing system. This threatens one of Apple’s most profitable business models – App Store service revenue.
The conflict began in August 2020, when Epic deliberately updated Fortnite on iOS and Android with a direct payment option that bypassed Apple’s and Google’s mandatory billing systems. Epic simultaneously reduced V-Bucks prices by around 20% for users paying directly through Epic, publicly challenging the commission structure imposed by both companies. The Tim Cook-led firm removed Fortnite from the App Store within hours, and Google followed shortly afterwards by removing it from the Play Store. In response, Epic immediately filed antitrust lawsuits against both firms, arguing that they exercised monopolistic control over mobile app distribution and digital payments.
The legal battle quickly evolved into one of the most influential technology cases of the decade. In 2021, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled largely in Apple’s favour on most antitrust counts but found Apple’s anti-steering policies unlawful under California competition law. The ruling required Apple to allow developers to direct users toward external payment options outside the App Store. Epic considered the outcome insufficient and continued appealing, while Apple introduced new compliance policies that critics argued still protected its commission system. Tensions escalated again in April 2025, when Rogers ruled that Apple had willfully violated her earlier injunction and imposed stricter restrictions preventing Apple from collecting commissions on purchases made outside its payment ecosystem.
Fortnite’s absence from iOS had major business consequences for Epic Games. Before the ban, Fortnite was one of the highest-grossing mobile games in the world and generated hundreds of millions of dollars through iPhone and iPad users alone. But during the years without full iOS support, Epic relied on cloud streaming partnerships with Nvidia and Microsoft to keep Fortnite accessible on Apple devices through browsers. Even so, engagement declined over time, and Epic later announced more than 1,000 layoffs amid broader gaming industry slowdowns and weaker consumer spending.
Notably, in 2024, the European Union’s Digital Markets Act forced Apple to permit alternative app marketplaces on iOS devices, helping Fortnite return to European iPhones before its US comeback in 2025 and now its broader global relaunch in 2026.
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Ashutosh is a Senior Writer at The Tech Portal, largely reporting on new tech, and intersection of technology and business. Ashutosh’s career spans across nearly a decade of technology writing across multiple platforms and languages.
