DMA be damned, Apple cuts off path to Epic Games Store, Fortnite on EU iPhones

Enlarge / A Fortnite loading screen displayed on an iPhone in 2018, when Apple and Epic weren’t at each other’s throats. (credit: Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images)

Last month, Epic announced that Apple had approved an iOS developer account for Epic Games Sweden, thus securing a path for Fortnite to return to the iOS App Store for the first time since 2020 (in Europe, at least). But Apple has now terminated that Swedish developer account in a move Epic says is a “serious violation of the DMA [that] shows Apple has no intention of allowing true competition on iOS devices.”

No competing App Store for you

Epic is referring there to the Digital Markets Act, the European regulation that has forced Apple to officially allow sideloaded apps on European iOS devices for the first time. Since Apple announced its DMA compliance plans in January, though, many third-party developers have loudly complained about the stringent terms Apple is imposing on companies that want to establish alternative App Stores on iOS devices. Epic Games was among those public complainants, with CEO Tim Sweeney publicly calling Apple’s policies “a devious new instance of Malicious Compliance” full of “hot garbage.”

Epic said Apple denied its request for a DMA consultation that could have helped streamline its plans to return to iOS. Despite this, in February Epic signaled a willingness to jump through Apple’s hoops, using a newly approved developer account for Epic Games Sweden AB as a way to “start developing the Epic Games Store on iOS soon” ahead of a planned 2024 launch.