This is it, Fortnite is back on Apple devices. Microsoft announced on May 5 the arrival of the battle royale on its remote gaming service, Xbox Cloud Gaming. This is the first time since August 2020 that the game is back on Steve Jobs’ environment.
Fortnite joins the catalog of Xbox Cloud Gaming
It is now possible to play Fortnite from any device running iOS, iPadOS, Android or Windows. Only two things are required: a Microsoft account and Internet access.
The video game market will exceed $200 billion by 2022
Fortnite is the first Free-to-Play game to join Microsoft’s cloud gaming service, but it surely won’t be the last. ” It’s an important step to add a Free-to-Play game to our cloud gaming catalog as we continue to move forward with the Cloud “, specifies Catherine Gluckstein, vice president and product manager of Xbox Cloud Gaming. ” We’re starting with Fortnite and we plan to offer more Free-to-Play games in the future that people enjoy. ”
For now, Xbox Cloud Gaming is available in 26 countries.
Epic Games has long opposed Apple
In the summer of 2020, Fortnite had sued Apple and Google. Epic accused the two giants of taking advantage of their monopoly on application stores to impose a tax on video game publishers using their services. This commission amounts to up to 30% for each micro-transaction made.
In protest, Epic Games, the battle royale publisher, offered a third-party payment option. Apple and Google did not really appreciate this low blow and decided to remove Fortnite from their respective stores.
During his trial in May 2021, Epic failed to prove the monopolistic competition of Apple’s app store. For Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, in charge of the case, the existence of the Android store makes this sector a duopoly in which Apple has 55% of the market share.
Since then, Fortnite had not reappeared on the devices of the apple brand.
Counting nearly 200 million players, Fortnite is one of the most popular games in the world. Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games, welcomed the news on Twitter. ” Fornite is now playable for FREE in streaming […] via the Xbox Cloud. No subscription required, no Apple tax at 30%.. ”
