Fortnite lands 2.8m new installs on App Store in US

Fortnite has gained 2.8 million new installs on the App Store since its return in the US.

Epic Games’ flagship battle royale arrived back on Apple’s store on May 21st, 2025 after an almost five-year ban. According to AppMagic estimates, it has achieved 2.8m downloads in the 19 days since then - up to June 8th.

The title’s return was a major one from the offset, having topped the App Store download charts in the US on May 21st and remaining the most-installed mobile game in the country every day since.

Most recently, on June 8th, the games following closest behind Fortnite were Kingshot, Block Blast!, Roblox and Vita Mahjong.

Fortnite also spent its first eight days back on the App Store as the most-installed app in the US, though it has since been dethroned by ChatGPT.

The game has generated an estimated $2.7m in player spending on the App Store since its return, meaning an average of $144,000 per day and almost $1 per install. Its current daily peak was at $248,000 on June 8th.

Over the same period of 2020, shortly before the ban, Fortnite earned $18.6m on the US App Store with a daily average of $980,000 in that time.

The title still has some way to go to return to its previous heights, although in 2025, it is also likely to generate extra income from iOS users making external transactions.

A changing landscape

Apple’s ban of Fortnite in August 2020 spawned a years-long battle which cost Epic Games over $100m in legal fees but has ultimately resulted in the popular game’s return in the US and an opening up of the mobile ecosystem.

The US court ruled that Apple can no longer use scare screens or anti-steering practices to keep users within its ecosystem, and it cannot ban games for linking out to alternative payment systems.

At Unreal Fest 2025, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney noted that he is "optimistic" about the direction the games industry is headed and that he will "keep fighting" until mobile apps are freed worldwide.

"Revenue is shifting away from useless gatekeepers and middlemen to developers who actually build this stuff, like us," he said.

Fortnite is expected to return to iOS in Brazil, the UK and Japan later this year.