Apple already unblocks Epic Games and will allow Fortnite on iPhone in the EU

The Digital Markets Act (DMA), a new set of EU regulations that force big tech companies to open up to competition on their core platforms, came into force on Thursday.

On Friday, the DMA had already resolved the latest dispute between Apple and Epic Games.

“The DMA faced its first major challenge with Apple banning Epic Games Sweden from competing with the App Store, and the DMA just scored its first major victory,” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said on X. Following a rapid investigation by the European Union Commission, Apple informed the Commission and Epic that it would relent and restore our access to bring back Fortnite and launch the Epic Games Store in Europe under the DMA.

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These last scenes conflict between Apple and Epic Games was made public on Wednesday, so as Sweeney said, this is an incredible win for the brand new DMA which is barely a day old at the time of its release.

The result of this decision means that Fortnite will likely return to iOS soon, which would mean EU players could once again play the popular battle royale game on their iPhone for the first time since 2020.

A break in the war between Apple and Epic Games

Fortnite developer Epic Games released a statement on Wednesday saying Apple had terminated the video game company’s previously approved iOS developer account.

This isn’t the first time the iPhone maker and Fortnite developer have clashed. In 2020, Apple started Epic Games’ Fortnite on the App Store after the gaming company tried to avoid paying Apple’s in-app purchase revenue sharing fees. Since then, Fortnite is no longer available on iOS devices.

However, thanks to the DMA, Apple was forced to comply with a number of new rules in the EU. The new law means that Apple must allow “alternative markets” to compete with its official App Store, allowing app developers to publish apps on iPhone without going through Apple’s distribution model.

Once Apple announced this new policy, Epic Games quickly announced its plans to bring Fortnite back to iPhone in the EU. To do this, Epic Games has opened a new developer account which must be used to create an Epic Games mobile app store in the EU under the new “alternative market” rules.

Apple derailed those plans – at least temporarily – on Wednesday. According to Epic Games, Apple finished its developer account, citing Fortnite’s history of violating Apple’s rules as well as Epic Games’ vocal criticism of Apple.

However, Apple is now officially operating under a new set of regulations in the EU as of Thursday. Epic Games filed a complaint with European regulators and as of Thursday the matter was already under investigation by the European Commission.

“Following conversations with Epic, they are committed to following the rules, including our DMA policies,” Apple said in a statement. “As a result, Epic Sweden AB was authorized to re-sign the development agreement and [be] accepted into the Apple Developer Program.

“Apple has told us and committed to the European Commission to reinstate our developer account,” Epic Games said in its own publicly released press release. “We are moving forward as planned to launch the Epic Games Store and bring Fortnite back to iOS in Europe.”

Apple’s rapid turnaround is certainly an impressive first feat for the DMA. It will be interesting to see what else these new regulations do even further than a day after their official implementation.