The Fortnite popular video game is now available on the Apple App Store in the United States after being withdrawn from the platform almost five years ago.
The title was deleted in August 2020 for violating Apple policies by launching its own payment system in the application.
This would have bypassed a 30% commission that the technology giant invoices for all integrated purchases.
This decision sparked a legal battle brought by the developer of Fortnite Epic Games, who qualified the costs of unfair and accused Apple to direct the App Store as a monopoly.
In an article on X, Fortnite said it was now available on the American App Store, as well as in the Epic Games and Alstore store in the European Union.
“He will soon appear on research!” The message added.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comments. The company has always declared that its rules protected user safety.
Wednesday’s development is considered a victory for epic games, which was locked in a legal battle for several years with Apple.
“This is a clear victory for Epic Games. Epic has actually forced to open a door that Apple and others worked very hard to stay closed,” said Joost Van Dreunen, business teacher at Nyu Stern.
“The industry has a long time on tiptoe on the platform, but this moment indicates a change in balance. Creators and publishers will now have more leverage to challenge rooted distribution models,” he added.
Fortnite became unavailable last week in application stores around the world, after an update was apparently blocked by Apple.
Last January, the game returned to the EU App Store after an absence of four years, stimulated by a law designed to increase competition.
Google, which also withdrew Fortnite from its App Store in 2020 on its payment rules, raised its prohibition of downloads last year.
Fortnite is extremely popular with around 400 million recorded players.
The shooting and construction game technically has several game modes. But its royal online battle is by far its most popular functionality, where up to 100 players are arguing to be the last.
