Epic Games has announced that Fortnite, its popular battle royale multiplayer game, will come back to iPhones in Australia following a federal court ruling in its favour over Apple and Google.
Justice Jonathan Beach’s ruling focused on the way Apple and Google control payment methods through their respective mobile storefronts. While not every ruling landed in Epic’s favour, Beach found that Apple and Google’s actions and market position minimised competition, but neither breached consumer law in the process.
Epic Games famously tried to navigate around Apple’s 30% App Store commission in 2020 by directing Fortnite players to its own payment channel. Apple then swiftly took Fortnite off the App Store for violating its guidelines.
Following the ruling, which will be published after redactions, Epic Games claims that both its storefront and Fortnite will return to iOS devices in Australia. Describing Beach’s findings as “a win for developers and consumers”, Epic posted to its official newsroom account on X after the hearing.
“An Australian court just found that Apple and Google abuse their control over app distribution and in-app payments to limit competition,” Epic Games’ statement said. “There are 2,000+ pages of findings that we’ll need to dig into to fully understand the details.”
No timeline for Fortnite‘s return to Australian iOS users has been confirmed yet. In May, a US judge ordered Apple to stop charging commissions on purchases outside the App Store. Shortly after, Fortnite returned to iOS in the US.
Two class actions, one against Apple and another against Google, will progress after being upheld by Beach. Both class actions allege that the companies charged app developers more in commissions as a result of “substantially lessening competition”.
