Epic Games has announced that Fortnite will return to iOS in Australia after Apple and Google were found to have broken competition law by banning Epic Games from their app stores.
Federal judge Jonathan Beach found that both companies had broken the law by misusing their market power in the way they run their app stores. Apple was ruled to have engaged in conduct that prevents direct downloading or sideloading of apps and blocks developers from using alternative payment methods. Google was also found to have breached the law for the similar Google Play billing system.
The victory is another win for Epic in its global legal campaign against Apple's App Store policies. Epic began legal proceedings against Apple in Australia in 2020 after it blocked Fortnite updates when Epic attempted to let players make in-app purchases via its own third-party payment service, bypassing Apple's 30% commission. Fortnite is still available in Australia on Android, but only through sideloading via the Epic Games Store.
"This is a win for developers and consumers in Australia," Epic said in a post on X (Twitter), though the company conceded that there were 2,000+ pages of findings that it would "need to dig into to fully understand the details."
Apple said it "strongly disagreed" with the ruling while welcoming the Australian court's rejection of some of Epic's other claims.
The ruling follows similar victories for Epic in the United States, where Fortnite returned to the App Store in May, and the European Union, where the game is available through the Epic Games Store alternative app marketplace. The U.S. version of Fortnite includes an option for players to purchase in-app currency using the Epic Games website as an alternative to in-app purchase. It is not available on the App Store in other countries.
Apple is currently appealing the U.S. court ruling that forced it to change its domestic App Store rules to allow developers to link customers to purchase options available outside of the App Store.
