Apple has reportedly changed its policy regarding the prohibition of installing apps from outside the App Store. This change was made in an effort to comply with DMA (Digital Market Act) regulations that will apply in European Union countries.
As a result of this policy change, Epic Games also announced plans to bring back Fortnite on the iOS platform. Quoting GSM Arena, Sunday (1/28/2024), this plan was revealed through Epic Games' social media accounts.
In its upload, Epic Games stated that Fortnite will be available to iOS users in the European Union region at the end of 2024. So, the Epic Games Store will be able to become an alternative app store for iOS users to download games.
"Fortnite will return to iOS in Europe in 2024, distributed through the Epic Games Store for iOS," the company wrote.
This announcement is obviously big news, given the infighting that has occurred between Epic Games and Apple in recent years.
As a reminder, Apple removed the game Fortnite from the App Store in 2020. The removal was made because the game was deemed to violate Apple's policy of banning payment systems from outside the company's ecosystem.
But with this policy change, Fortnite will most likely return for iOS users through the Epic Games Store.
However, Epic Games has not revealed when their app store will return to Apple's mobile platform.
For your information, changes to the iPhone policy that can install applications from third-party sources are rumored to begin on iOS 17.4 in March 2024.
Later, users in the European Union will get an iOS 17.4 update that allows their iPhone to download a marketplace or app store from a website.