Epic says Fortnite and the Epic Games Store will come to iOS in Australia, following court ruling
It’s the latest region to find Apple’s actions anti-competitive, following the US, EU and Japan
Epic Games says it will be bringing Fortnite and the Epic Games Store to iOS in Australia, following a court ruling.
As reported by Financial Review (via GI.biz), a Federal Court judge in Australia found Apple and Google‘s app store behaviour to be anti-competitive, opening the door to potential third-party app stores and the ability for apps to offer alternative payment methods than Apple’s own.
Following the finding, Epic Games posted a statement on its official X account, saying it was still looking at the findings but promising to bring Fortnite and its app store to iOS platforms in Australia.
“The Epic Games Store and Fortnite will come to iOS in Australia,” the statement reads “An Australian court just found that Apple and Google abuse their control over app distribution and in-app payments to limit competition.
“There are 2,000+ pages of findings that we’ll need to dig into to fully understand the details. This is a WIN for developers and consumers in Australia.”
On his own X account, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney added: “Victory in the Australian antitrust proceedings of Epic v Apple and Epic v Google! Fortnite will return to the Land Down Under through Epic Games Store at a date to be determined.”
The Epic Games Store and Fortnite will come to iOS in Australia! An Australian court just found that Apple and Google abuse their control over app distribution and in-app payments to limit competition. There are 2,000+ pages of findings that we’ll need to dig into to fully…
— Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom) August 12, 2025
Should Australia’s ruling indeed make it possible to bring Fortnite and the Epic Games Store to iOS, it’ll be the latest region to do so following similar judgements made by the US, the European Union and Japan.
Epic’s war with Apple dates back a number of years. Apple had previously been sued by Epic in 2020 for taking a 30% cut on all in-app purchases while also banning any alternative ways of making payments outside of Apple’s ecosystem.
Epic tried to bypass Apple’s platform fees later in 2020 by adding a new direct payment option in Fortnite, but this led to Apple removing the game from the App Store and terminating Epic’s developer account. Apple was then ordered in 2021 to allow iOS developers to link to external payment options in their apps.
Apple started allowing developers to offer external payment options, but also forced a 27% commission on purchases made through web links in apps, and also showed prompts that appeared to dissuade users from using web link purchases.
Earlier this year a US judge ordered Apple to stop forcing the 27% commission and using its prompts, stating that the Apple had violated a 2021 injunction and that VP Alex Roman had “outright lied under oath”, meaning the company could now face criminal contempt charges.
While these court findings around the world mean Epic’s titles are slowly making their way back to iOS, it doesn’t appear that they will be coming to the UK any time soon.
Last month the publisher criticised UK competition regulator the CMA for “choosing not to prioritize opening the mobile ecosystem to alternative app stores this year”, saying: “Four years after concluding that the App Store and Google Play Store are parallel monopolies the CMA has done nothing to allow competing stores.”
As such, Epic said: “We can’t bring the Epic Games Store to iOS in the UK this year (if ever), and Fortnite’s return to iOS in the UK is now uncertain.”
