Fortnite returns to global App Store as Epic signals ‘final battle’ with Apple

Fortnite is returning to the App Store in every country except Australia, Epic Games announced today, as the company said it was entering the “final battle” of its long-running legal dispute with Apple.

Epic said the decision to push Fortnite back to iOS globally was driven by Apple’s own words to the U.S. Supreme Court, in which Apple acknowledged that “regulators around the world are monitoring this case to determine the commission rate Apple can charge on purchases covered in huge markets outside the United States.” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney called the move a strategic provocation, writing on X that the return marks “the beginning of the end of the Apple tax worldwide.”

This return follows the reintegration of Fortnite on the American App Store in May 2025 after almost five years of absence from the platform. The return was forced after District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers threatened to require the Apple official overseeing app decisions to appear in court, prompting Apple to approve the request. Today’s global rollout extends that return to most remaining markets, with Epic expressing confidence that an upcoming court-ordered transparency process will reveal what the company calls Apple’s “junk charges.”

Apple knows the US federal court will force it to be transparent about how it charges its App Store fees. Fortnite is returning to the App Store now because we are confident that once Apple is forced to show its costs, governments around the world will not allow Apple’s unwanted charges to continue.

In late April, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a stay that had allowed Apple to suspend its compliance with App Store fee rulings, sending the case back to Judge Gonzalez Rogers to determine what fee Apple can charge on purchases made through external links, if any.

Epic said it would “continue to challenge Apple’s App Store anti-competitive practices of banning alternative app stores and competition in payments,” highlighting regulatory dynamics in Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom. The company alleged that Apple had “evaded the laws with scary screens, fees and onerous requirements” in each of these jurisdictions.

Australia is the only major market that Fortnite has not returned to. Epic said it won its case there and that an Australian court found many of Apple’s development terms illegal, but Apple continues to enforce those terms nonetheless. Epic said it could not return “under an illegal payment agreement” and was awaiting a court order to force Apple to comply.