Fortnite is coming back to iOS via the Amazon Luna cloud gaming service.
The title, which was removed from iOS at the beginning of a long and complex legal saga between developers Epic Games and platform owner Apple, will now be available on iPhone and iPad once more, Amazon have announced.
While it’s not the first service to bypass Apple’s iron grip on their app ecosystem, as both Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now have previously added the title, it does represent a wider way for Fortnite fans to bypass Apple’s restrictions.
Vice president of Amazon entertainment devices and services Dainiel Rausch said, “Fortnite has been the most requested game from Luna customers in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to bring the title to the service. We’re committed to making gaming more accessible and more affordable, without the need for expensive hardware."
Moving on from, and onto, mobile
Although Apple and Epic’s long, epic (pun intended) legal saga has been ongoing for years now, it seems that despite Tim Sweeney’s subtle hints that there is no official avenue in sight for Fortnite to return to iOS. In fact earlier this year it was announced that those who still officially had the game installed on iOS would no longer be able to make use of the in-game currency, V-bucks as the game was “outdated”.
Of course this now raises a lot more questions, as many are observing that this inclusion of Fortnite on Luna in particular is yet another gap in Apple’s defences against their legal nemesis returning to their platform. Short of other clauses being added for these cloud gaming services, it seems that the ban against Fortnite is functionally useless, as now any determined customer can simply grab a subscription and start playing.
However, this may not be the resolution that Epic is hoping for, as they may simply be trading one platform for another. There’s no guarantee that their deals with these cloud gaming giants don’t contain a similar 30% fee on in-game purchases, and it certainly doesn’t present an outright victory over Apple themselves, especially as rulings have not been in the gaming giant’s favour.
In March, Epic launched Unreal Editor for Fortnite.
