Hands On: Testing Fortnite on iOS Using GeForce NOW

[MacRumors]

Fortnite has been unavailable to play on the iPhone and iPad since Apple banned it from the App Store in August 2020 amid an ongoing legal battle with Epic Games, but the battle royale game is coming back to iOS devices thanks to Nvidia's GeForce NOW gaming service.

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GeForce NOW is a browser-based gaming service that will allow iPhone and iPad users to play Fortnite using Safari, and it's getting close to launching. Nvidia has been working with Epic Games to bring Fortnite to the browser since November 2020, and in January, the two companies announced a limited time beta that's happening before the official launch.

We've been able to get into the Fortnite beta to see how gameplay works through a browser, which is going to be the only way to play Fortnite on Apple devices for the foreseeable future. Fortnite runs as it does on mobile devices for the most part, with touch controls available as well as controller integration so you can play with a Bluetooth controller if preferred.

Gameplay was decent for the most part, considering that this is still a beta test. There are still some kinks to work out, but in general, it's similar to the prior version of Fortnite on iPhone and iPad.

Using Fortnite through GeForce NOW requires signing up for the beta at the current time, and it is a closed beta which means not everyone will be able to play. You can sign up for the waitlist, and you'll get an email if and when you're granted access.

If you do get in, all you need to do is sign up for a GeForce NOW account, which is available for free, though there are higher-quality paid accounts available starting at $50 for six months. From there, sign into GeForce NOW, add a link to your Home Screen, and link it to your Epic Games account.

After those steps have been completed, Fortnite will be an available game to play in the closed beta section of the GeForce NOW website. We have a full rundown of how it works in the YouTube video up above, along with a demonstration of what gameplay is like.

Apple has made it clear that it has no intention of allowing Fortnite back into the App Store while the Epic Games lawsuit is ongoing, and the legal battle could span years. Apple said that it would not consider requests for the reinstatement of the Epic Games developer account until the court's judgment is "final and non-appealable," and both Epic Games and Apple are appealing the initial ruling at this time.

Apple is well within its rights to deny the reinstatement of the Epic Games developer account as the court found that Apple's termination of the account was "valid, lawful, and enforceable" after Epic breached its contract with Apple by adding purchase methods that defied App Store rules.

Article Link: Hands On: Testing Fortnite on iOS Using GeForce NOW

 

[Piggie]

Interesting review thanks.
I do wonder if Apple are doing the right thing here.
On the one hand, they get the satisfaction of banning Fortnite from their app store.
However, using this method means Apple users may find other games they wish to play via Geforce now, and hence not within Apple's own system.
Feels bit like Banning a TV Show many like, but then forcing them to use a different service to get the show back, where they may then find other shows also.
Perhaps better to keep your users on your system, and not force them elsewhere?

 

[Realityck]

It's nice to see a another method to play the game finally. Its also shows the potential of how game developers can market a game not using the Apple App Store via GeForce NOW.

 

[mi7chy]

Sideloaded would be better.

 

[doolar]

I just play it on my 14” MacBook Pro. Actually the only thing that spins the fans up so I can hear them.

I’m just playing a few rounds here and there with my 9 year old son. Works really well and runs way smoother than on my Switch.

 

[trvs]

I played a ton with the iOS app and am now in the beta.

The beta is ok but definitely laggy and difficult in close combat situations… it’s almost painful how many times I’ve lost in situations that I’ve had the upper hand. I’m hoping it improves but at this time I’m not interested in playing. Obviously a native app is better.

And before the trolls can get to me… yes I know it’s a “kids game” and I’m a grown ass adult but it’s still fun.

 

[jz0309]

Interesting review thanks.
I do wonder if Apple are doing the right thing here.
On the one hand, they get the satisfaction of banning Fortnite from their app store.
However, using this method means Apple users may find other games they wish to play via Geforce now, and hence not within Apple's own system.
Feels bit like Banning a TV Show many like, but then forcing them to use a different service to get the show back, where they may then find other shows also.
Perhaps better to keep your users on your system, and not force them elsewhere?

I think if Apple would see this impacting bottom line they would handle it different ... and remember with the # of users and revenue/profit numbers it would have to be a significant impact

 

[Unregistered 4U]

On the one hand, they get the satisfaction of banning Fortnite from their app store.
However, using this method means Apple users may find other games they wish to play via Geforce now, and hence not within Apple's own system.

It’s not “satisfaction” It’s that Epic doesn’t want to follow the rules that Apple set up, so Apple CAN’T allow them on the store until they have assurances they won’t pull the same thing.

Here’s the key to anyone playing GeForce Now on an iOS device… you have to own an iOS device in orde to play on an iOS device. While the add on services revenue is a nice bonus, the people are still carrying around and using an iOS device.

Apple wins when people choose an iPhone. They just win MORE if folks buy into the services.

 

[Wildkraut]

Well, it kinda works but lags, simply because Safari isn’t optimized for 3D.

It’s just a matter of time till Apple uses it position to gatekeep the browser, too.
They will stop optimizing Safari(webkit) for 3D, and sabotage the performance of browser based streaming games that way, and probably even slow down the traffic going through PrivateRelay.

It‘s about time for third-party browser engines through sideloading.
Browser Game streaming in its current form is not a decent workaround gatekeepers.

Luckily the final judgement hasn’t been spoken, yet.

 

[dredlew]

Well, it kinda works but lags, simply because Safari isn’t optimized for 3D.

It’s just a matter of time till Apple uses it position to gatekeep the browser, too.
They will stop optimizing Safari(webkit) for 3D, and sabotage the performance of browser based streaming games that way, and probably even slow down the traffic going through PrivateRelay.

It‘s about time for third-party browser engines through sideloading.
Browser Game streaming in its current form is not a decent workaround gatekeepers.

Luckily the final judgement hasn’t been spoken, yet.

Well, that’s factually false:

WebGL 2.0 Achieves Pervasive Support from all Major Web Browsers

One of the great headaches of developing interactive graphics applications for online deployment is covering every base. Your targets likely include a near-infinite combination of browser vendors, browser versions, and graphics hardware. The Khronos Group created WebGL to slice through this...

www.khronos.org

From that article specifically:
Work began in earnest to bring WebGL 2.0 to Safari in June of 2019. The project has had a number of positive side effects. Apple adopted ANGLE as the basis for Safari’s WebGL implementation, and as a result, their engineering team spent over a year making dramatic contributions to ANGLE’s Metal backend. Safari now runs WebGL on top of Metal on recent iOS and macOS devices. Collaborative work continues among the Apple and Google engineering teams, including adopting top-of-tree ANGLE into WebKit, creating a common codebase for development going forward, and switching Chrome to use ANGLE’s Metal backend as well.

As for judgement, if you’re referring to Epic’s case or even any other pending case regarding “monopoly” or side loading; the fact that Epic’s game can now basically be played on Apple’s platform without having to go through any of Apple’s approval, distribution or payment systems substantially weakens any other claim that developers are forced to go through them.

 

[4jasontv]

No. Bad Dan. You’re going to sit on the floor in front of a TV and pick marshmallows out of the box like a civilized person.

 

[kalafalas]

Well, it kinda works but lags, simply because Safari isn’t optimized for 3D.

It’s just a matter of time till Apple uses it position to gatekeep the browser, too.
They will stop optimizing Safari(webkit) for 3D, and sabotage the performance of browser based streaming games that way, and probably even slow down the traffic going through PrivateRelay.

It‘s about time for third-party browser engines through sideloading.
Browser Game streaming in its current form is not a decent workaround gatekeepers.

Luckily the final judgement hasn’t been spoken, yet.

There is no 3D happening here, it’s a video feed being sent from a remote PC doing all the rendering. Browser should be identical to a native app when using a controller, the on-screen controls may not be as nice in html/css.

 

[kalafalas]

I honestly don’t understand how anyone can play an FPS on a phone with tiny screen and touch controls, or play an FPS using streaming of any kind with all the lag and artifacts. I can’t even play FPSs well using PS remote play locally on Ethernet, let alone to a remote PC over Wi-Fi. This game is much more suited for a console or pc anyway

 

[CarpalMac]

Interesting review thanks.
I do wonder if Apple are doing the right thing here.
On the one hand, they get the satisfaction of banning Fortnite from their app store.
However, using this method means Apple users may find other games they wish to play via Geforce now, and hence not within Apple's own system.
Feels bit like Banning a TV Show many like, but then forcing them to use a different service to get the show back, where they may then find other shows also.
Perhaps better to keep your users on your system, and not force them elsewhere?

Feels a lot like the reason why Google pays Apple so much.

 

[Madmic23]

Well, it kinda works but lags, simply because Safari isn’t optimized for 3D.

It’s just a matter of time till Apple uses it position to gatekeep the browser, too.
They will stop optimizing Safari(webkit) for 3D, and sabotage the performance of browser based streaming games that way, and probably even slow down the traffic going through PrivateRelay.

It‘s about time for third-party browser engines through sideloading.
Browser Game streaming in its current form is not a decent workaround gatekeepers.

Luckily the final judgement hasn’t been spoken, yet.

If Safari is optimized or not for 3D, it doesn't matter. GeForce now is just sending a video stream, like a YouTube video, but live and interactive. For Apple to cripple this, they'd basically have to cripple web based streaming video, which seems like a bad idea.

A browser based game engine would be a great idea though, because then the game would truly run locally, and could easily be sideloaded.

 

[now i see it]

I wonder how many AplInc executives have signed up for a GeForce Now account using throwaway email addresses

 

[djphat2000]

It's nice to see a another method to play the game finally. Its also shows the potential of how game developers can market a game not using the Apple App Store via GeForce NOW.

If only they could have realized this in the first place, and built it this way. Rather than taking Apple to court and losing. And wasting everyones time.

 

[Pakaku]

Interesting review thanks.
I do wonder if Apple are doing the right thing here.
On the one hand, they get the satisfaction of banning Fortnite from their app store.
However, using this method means Apple users may find other games they wish to play via Geforce now, and hence not within Apple's own system.
Feels bit like Banning a TV Show many like, but then forcing them to use a different service to get the show back, where they may then find other shows also.
Perhaps better to keep your users on your system, and not force them elsewhere?

I doubt Apple gets satisfaction out of it. They miss out on some Fortnite revenue and have to fight in court for years, all because Epic didn't follow Apple's rules, like every other app store dev has to. I'd go as far as to say Apple should have every intention to get a massive game like Fortnite back on the store, but apparently Epic doesn't like to cooperate.

 

[Wildkraut]

Well, that’s factually false:

WebGL 2.0 Achieves Pervasive Support from all Major Web Browsers

One of the great headaches of developing interactive graphics applications for online deployment is covering every base. Your targets likely include a near-infinite combination of browser vendors, browser versions, and graphics hardware. The Khronos Group created WebGL to slice through this...

www.khronos.org

From that article specifically:
Work began in earnest to bring WebGL 2.0 to Safari in June of 2019. The project has had a number of positive side effects. Apple adopted ANGLE as the basis for Safari’s WebGL implementation, and as a result, their engineering team spent over a year making dramatic contributions to ANGLE’s Metal backend. Safari now runs WebGL on top of Metal on recent iOS and macOS devices. Collaborative work continues among the Apple and Google engineering teams, including adopting top-of-tree ANGLE into WebKit, creating a common codebase for development going forward, and switching Chrome to use ANGLE’s Metal backend as well.

As for judgement, if you’re referring to Epic’s case or even any other pending case regarding “monopoly” or side loading; the fact that Epic’s game can now basically be played on Apple’s platform without having to go through any of Apple’s approval, distribution or payment systems substantially weakens any other claim that developers are forced to go through them.

As real world scenarios shows, it’s not.

That’s not a fair market competition.
Apple would have to make all 3D features available with 100% the same performance through the browser, and at same day they become available natively to not be in a anticompetitive position. The native API development also does not stop, feature wise a browser will always lag behind in a worse position than direct calls to a natively available API. Furthermore, a native Game/App will always perform better than a browser based one with all its additional software layers and internet communication overhead.

Well, thinking a bit differently, forcing Apple to stop offering native Apps/Games could improve the situation a bit. Browser based and native Apps/Games are same/same, aren’t they? Should be no problem to enforce this then.

 

[Salvor Hardin]

Here’s the best way to play Fortnite:

Spoiler: What they don’t want you to know

don’t

 

[Aoligei]

Fortnite not available on iOS? No problem. I have Android phone. Even if Google bans on its Play Store, I can always sideload.

The flexibility of Android is why I will not be Apple exclusive. I will continue buy iPhone, but I will never give up on Android.

 

[MisterSavage]

I honestly don’t understand how anyone can play an FPS on a phone with tiny screen and touch controls, or play an FPS using streaming of any kind with all the lag and artifacts. I can’t even play FPSs well using PS remote play locally on Ethernet, let alone to a remote PC over Wi-Fi. This game is much more suited for a console or pc anyway

We've had the ability to pair game console controllers to iOS devices for quite a while. I used to use my DualShock controller on my iPad when my nephew wanted to play Fortnite.

 

[Wildkraut]

There is no 3D happening here, it’s a video feed being sent from a remote PC doing all the rendering. Browser should be identical to a native app when using a controller, the on-screen controls may not be as nice in html/css.

I know, thats why it will always lag behind just like 3D calls through the browser, which puts Apple clearly in a better anticompetitive position with their native API access.

 

[gaximus]

Interesting review thanks.
I do wonder if Apple are doing the right thing here.
On the one hand, they get the satisfaction of banning Fortnite from their app store.
However, using this method means Apple users may find other games they wish to play via Geforce now, and hence not within Apple's own system.
Feels bit like Banning a TV Show many like, but then forcing them to use a different service to get the show back, where they may then find other shows also.
Perhaps better to keep your users on your system, and not force them elsewhere?

The developers of those games, should be able to see the stats of who is playing on what devices. And if enough people play their games on a mobile device, then they might put in the effort to move it to the App Store natively, where there is a much larger audience than just the GeForce NOW subscribers.

 

[Agit21]

Shame on you Apple.