The EU announced that Apple has revoked the old decision and opened the door for Epic Games to deploy the app store on iPhone.
The lawsuit against Epic Games and Apple in the US ended in mid-January 2024 when the US Supreme Court refused to consider both of their appeals. However, the conflict continued when Apple blocked Epic Games’ account on March 7, despite Epic’s plans to bring Epic Games Store and Fortnite to iOS in Europe. According to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), from March 6, 2024, Apple must open the door to third-party applications on iOS in the EU.
Apple closes Epic Games’ account after iOS 17.4 supports third-party stores under DMA in the EU. Photo: internet
On its blog, Epic announced that Fortnite will return to iOS thanks to this new decision.
“This sends a strong signal to developers that the European Commission will act quickly to enforce the Digital Markets Act and ensure portal keepers are held accountable.”
The EU’s Digital Markets Act, which took effect last Thursday, aims to limit the monopolies of tech corporations, forcing app stores to open up to third-party service providers.
In the previous article, Epic also revealed that Apple had deleted the “Epic Games Sweden AB” account, through which they responded to their plan to bring Epic Games Store to iOS.
Epic’s lawsuit against Google took place in San Francisco in November 2023, with the jury favoring Epic and criticizing Google Play’s monopoly. Although Google plans to appeal, Epic will likely develop its own store and payment system on Android. In a separate lawsuit with Apple in 2021, Epic lost but Apple was told to open the door to other payment options.