Epic Games to Bring Fortnite to iPad in EU After iPadOS 'Gatekeeper' Decision

With Apple soon to be required to bring the same EU changes that it made on the iPhone to the iPad, Epic Games today confirmed that it will release Fortnite for the ‌iPad‌ in the future.

fortnite apple featured
‌Epic Games‌ is already working to release an ‌iPhone‌ version of Fortnite in the EU, with the game set to be available from the forthcoming ‌Epic Games‌ Store, an alternative app marketplace. The ‌iPhone‌ version of Fortnite is coming "soon," and an ‌iPad‌ version will follow "this year."

The European Commission said this morning that iPadOS, the operating system designed to run on the ‌iPad‌, is considered a digital gatekeeper under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). As a result, Apple has six months to comply with the requirements set by the DMA, and we've already seen those requirements implemented on ‌iPhone‌.


As of iOS 17.4, ‌iPhone‌ users in the European Union can download apps from alternative app marketplaces rather than the App Store, and starting in iOS 17.5, apps are available directly from developer websites. Right now, only ‌iPhone‌ apps can be downloaded outside of the ‌App Store‌, but Apple will need to expand this functionality to the ‌iPad‌ as well.

Within six months, EU users will be able to download ‌iPad‌ apps from alternative app marketplaces and from websites. As with the ‌iPhone‌ updates, the upcoming changes are limited to the European Union, and the ‌iPad‌ app ecosystem will function as is in the rest of the world.

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Top Rated Comments

Think|Different Avatar
20 months ago
Any and all Epic 'wins' only illicit this from me these days. They are all for themselves – not the consumer.

Attachment Image
Score: 57 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
20 months ago
Like it or not, it’s a win for consumers against gatekeepers like Apple. Epic Games may have pursued this for self serving reasons, but that doesn’t diminish the practical value of the DMA nor the upcoming DOJ antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. against Apple.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
now i see it Avatar
20 months ago
Hope nobody downloads it - out of spite
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
20 months ago
Congratulations EU friends. You now get the CHOICE to put what software you want on favorite tech devices you own... this being but one of them... while the rest of us have "Daddy" deciding for us what can and can't be installed on the very same tech we've purchased. Apparently to many of us, Father knows best... and whatever Father dictates is the only way it should be.

Enjoy your greater freedom... much like the rest of us have and have had with our Macs for many years now... leading to no apocalypse, no disaster, no account draining by evil crime syndicates, we're not swimming in viruses, no locusts/frogs/famine, etc... just as you are experiencing after almost 2 months of these laws taking effect... and as it will likely be months and then years from now too.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
IceCool Avatar
20 months ago
lol to the people that think the EU is giving users a “choice” ???
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
uacd Avatar
20 months ago

Epic Games Store
That’s all we need to know. Another day to forget that Fortnite exists. What’s next, they will ask you to install antivirus for iPhone in order to be able to launch the game? Really, who cares about their store, it ain’t “epic” at all.

The only decent online games store I have ever seen was GOG. No bloatware, no fake deals and ads, no bs approach
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)