Epic has submitted Fortnite to the US App Store

Epic has officially submitted Fortnite to the US Apple App Store. If the game returns, it’ll be the first time in nearly five years that the battle royale shooter will be available on iOS devices.

This is happening after a judge ruled that Apple must stop collecting fees for purchases made outside of the App Store. Epic celebrated the ruling by announcing Fortnite’s imminent return, along with changes to its sales platform aimed at developers and publishers. The company will not charge a commission of any kind to publishers for the first $1,000,000 in revenue from an app per year.

Additionally, Epic announced the formation of standalone webshops, offering another way for devs to avoid Apple’s exorbitant App Store fees. The shops are powered by Epic Games Store and offer a platform for "out-of-app purchases, as a more cost-effective alternative to in-app purchases." It also announced a higher rate of Epic Rewards when using its proprietary payment system.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has stated that the company would return the game to the App Store worldwide, so long as Apple extends the court’s ruling across the globe. We don’t know where Apple stands on that one, but the company did appeal the ruling and filed an emergency motion to ask the federal appeals court to put a pause on any changes to how the App Store operates and collects fees.

Epic responded to this move by calling it a "last ditch effort to block competition and extract massive junk fees at the expense of consumers and developers." Some companies, like Spotify, have already submitted updates that would let US customers pay outside the App Store.

Additionally, a group of developers have banded together to file a class action suit against Apple. The suit alleges that they have lost large amounts of money due to Apple's failure to comply with the original court order that ordered it stop collecting fees for purchases made outside the App Store.

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