Fortnite's Return to iOS in the UK Uncertain as Epic Games Criticizes 'Weak' Apple Regulations

[MacRumors]

Epic Games today criticized the focus of measures that the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is considering implementing against Apple and Google, claiming that it might not be able to bring Fortnite back to the iOS App Store in the UK.

The CMA said that it will designate Apple and Google with "strategic market status" under new digital competition laws, giving the CMA the ability to direct how the App Store and Play Store are run. The CMA is focusing on Apple's anti-steering rules and app review processes rather than forcing Apple to support sideloading through alternative app stores, which is what Epic Games takes issue with.

Epic Games says that it won't be able to bring the Epic Games Store to iOS in the UK this year, and Fortnite's return to iOS in the UK is "now uncertain" because the CMA is not prioritizing opening the mobile ecosystem to alternative app stores.

A free market requires multiple stores competing to offer consumers the best prices and services. If you don't have competing stores, the one store that is a state-sanctioned monopoly will use its control to extract all the value from the market at the expense of all creators who cannot compete, and consumers who can't choose the best deal among competing stores.

Epic Games also claims that any anti-steering rules will see "years of malicious compliance" from Apple, suggesting that Apple used "restrictions, obstructions, and junk fees" in Europe to "make a mockery of the Digital Markets Act." Apple and Google must be "completely blocked from imposing fees and discriminating against apps using out-of-app payment," reads Epic's blog post.

The CMA does not plan to consider store competition until sometime in 2026, which Epic Games says is "bleak news."

Article Link: Fortnite's Return to iOS in the UK Uncertain as Epic Games Criticizes 'Weak' Apple Regulations

 

[breenmask]

Oh god, what a super greedy complainer, Tim Sweeney.

 

[jz0309]

what else would you expect from this unethical company?

 

[ZMacintosh]

go away, so sick of these dweebs. won't partake in their software/games on iOS, macOS, or on other consoles. just quit offering your product to Apple users and see what happens, if they follow epic, good for them, if not, bye epic

 

[chrono1081]

Tim Sweeny is a garbage human being. He wants to control everyone else's business.

 

[Glideslope]

This is so tiring..............

 

[kirky29]

I don't give two hoots about Epic, Fortnite or Tim Sweeney, but I do think it's time for Apple to play nice, open up more, and allow users the OPTION to leave the walled garden at our own risk. And no, I don't mean switching to Android. Simple options to install non app store apps, use different NFC options, set more default options etc. They are slowly doing it, but not fast enough.

 

[surferfb]

I wonder if he complains this much about having to pay rent to Epic’s landlord. “It’s not fair I don’t get to use their property for free.”

 

[Onelifenofear]

I don't give two hoots about Epic, Fortnite or Tim Sweeney, but I do think it's time for Apple to play nice, open up more, and allow users the OPTION to leave the walled garden at our own risk. And no, I don't mean switching to Android. Simple options to install non app store apps, use different NFC options, set more default options etc. They are slowly doing it, but not fast enough.

The problem is the second Apple opens it up, it's not secure. Android *Can* be the Wild West because of it. The whole ethos is security and IF there are third party apps they end to run silo'd and well away from any data. I am sure it possible.

I agree with the default options... you should be able to fully select and integrate apps you want for whatever reason.

 

[justanotherdave]

Every time Tim Sweeney gets mad about Apple an angel gets its wings.

 

[Stevez67]

The trouble with side loading apps is that when the app doesn't work well or people find out their data has been stolen by an app, people complain. The app developer blames Apple for not doing enough to make side loaded apps safely and easily work, Apple blames the crappy developer for poor coding. And, since the side loaded app isn't paying Apple commission to be on the platform, I don't see how anyone expects Apple to lift a finger to help them. In the end, the consumer loses privacy and iPhone performance suffers.

 

[SoldOnApple]

So will the EU make it so you can sideload games on your PS5, xbox, or Switch to avoid the 30% fee?

 

[Jdshewman]

I don't give two hoots about Epic, Fortnite or Tim Sweeney, but I do think it's time for Apple to play nice, open up more, and allow users the OPTION to leave the walled garden at our own risk. And no, I don't mean switching to Android. Simple options to install non app store apps, use different NFC options, set more default options etc. They are slowly doing it, but not fast enough.

I prefer not to enter my payment information into every individual app, it significantly increases the risk of security. When platforms like the Epic Games Store eventually face a data breach, it won’t be surprising. At least with Apple Pay, each transaction uses a unique, alternate 16-digit code, offering an added layer of protection.

 

[HMI]

Maybe he wants to be an A* now, so that he can cry alone in his Ferrari later? I don’t know. That’s as much virtue points as I’m willing to extend him for the time being.

 

[iLondoner]

Proud that my government doesn’t blindly follow the idiot legislators in the US. Bye bye Epic.

 

[zahuh]

I get we all love Apple, but to not want a free market just because we don't want it to change doesn't make it right. America was built to COMPETE and make things better.

 

[JapanApple]

That’s strange. I don’t know anybody who play this game anymore. Let alone their company games. Again just go away your past tense.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

🎵 And for a Fortnite there, we were forever
Run into you sometimes, ask about the weather 🎵

 

[GlassHollow]

So will the EU make it so you can sideload games on your PS5, xbox, or Switch to avoid the 30% fee?

They will eventually. That’s the end goal. They start with the phone and then move to the consoles.

 

[GlassHollow]

MacDailyNews Take: Bureaucratic fools – Big Government spawn – like the CMA’s Sarah Cardell abound. Same as it ever was. More red tape has never delivered more innovation and choice, always less.

Because there is a morass of regulation that effectively bans billions of pounds more of investment from flowing into Britain. Thickets of red tape… allowed to spread through the British economy like Japanese knotweed… [D]eregulation is now essential… f we don’t curb regulator overreach, then we won’t unlock the investment needed for a more prosperous future…


A change in the economic weather can only ever come from a supply-side expansion of the nation’s productive power. In the 1980s, the Thatcher government deregulated finance capital… [Today], globalisation increased the opportunities for trade. This is our equivalent. For too long regulation has stopped Britain building its future. – Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, January 28 2025

---

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. ― Ronald Reagan

 

[Astuces iOS]

Epic Games today criticized the focus of measures that the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is considering implementing against Apple and Google, claiming that it might not be able to bring Fortnite back to the iOS App Store in the UK.

The CMA said that it will designate Apple and Google with "strategic market status" under new digital competition laws, giving the CMA the ability to direct how the App Store and Play Store are run. The CMA is focusing on Apple's anti-steering rules and app review processes rather than forcing Apple to support sideloading through alternative app stores, which is what Epic Games takes issue with.

Epic Games says that it won't be able to bring the Epic Games Store to iOS in the UK this year, and Fortnite's return to iOS in the UK is "now uncertain" because the CMA is not prioritizing opening the mobile ecosystem to alternative app stores.

Epic Games also claims that any anti-steering rules will see "years of malicious compliance" from Apple, suggesting that Apple used "restrictions, obstructions, and junk fees" in Europe to "make a mockery of the Digital Markets Act." Apple and Google must be "completely blocked from imposing fees and discriminating against apps using out-of-app payment," reads Epic's blog post.

The CMA does not plan to consider store competition until sometime in 2026, which Epic Games says is "bleak news."

Article Link: Fortnite's Return to iOS in the UK Uncertain as Epic Games Criticizes 'Weak' Apple Regulations

I don’t think it’s a good idea, I know many parents who regrets to allowed her child to play Fortnite…

 

[Lone Deranger]

You better believe Apple is going to do whatever it takes to make life as difficult as possible for Sweeney and his henchmen, in perpetuity.

 

[gaximus]

Why do they need to come back, cant they make their own store now? That would be more profitable, than Apple taking 30%. Especially at their?

Them trying to come back just proves Apple’s offering is better for developers, no matter the size.

 

[dominiongamma]

That’s strange. I don’t know anybody who play this game anymore. Let alone their company games. Again just go away your past tense.

Well here I am, I play it now you know somebody, but the fighting on both ends is dumb, Apple should just have allowed the app and Epic shouldn’t have been so bitter for so long about it and should have kept fighting though the courts only instead public statements trying to shame Apple’s own store policies.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

what else would you expect from this unethical company?

Exactly why Sweeney is fighting them on it.