Fortnite Will Not Return to iOS in Japan in 2025

Fortnite will not return to the iOS platform in Japan in 2025, as shared by Epic Games Founder and CEO Tim Sweeney.

Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney took to Twitter to reveal that the game would not appear on Apple's operating system in Japan this year, contrary to the previous news. The executive says, "Apple was required to open up iOS to competing stores today, and instead of doing so honestly, they have launched another travesty of obstruction and lawbreaking in gross disrespect to the government and people of Japan."

The CEO also states that Apple charges a "competition-crashing 21% junk fee on third-party in-app payments," along with 15% for web purchases, a practice that, as the CEO notes, was found illegal by the US District Court. As Sweeney continues, Apple also introduces "anticompetitive warning screens" that tell customers their data would not be processed by Apple but by the developer of the game, which are "meant to mislead customers into believing their privacy and financial security are at risk when dealing with Apple competitors," the CEO says.

Apart from this, Sweeney says that the iOS developer introduces a "new 5% junk fee on all revenue from apps distributed by competing stores," intending to "surveil all transactions within them using a mandatory reporting API." The CEO concluded that Epic Games would address the Japanese Fair Trade Commission.

As an additional point, the executive compared the situation to a hypothetical scenario in which Microsoft required all games on Steam and the Epic Games Store to use its commerce surveillance API and report all transactions back to Microsoft:

Epic Games and Apple have been involved in a prolonged dispute over Fortnite's availability on the App Store, which started five years ago, with Apple removing Fortnite from the App Store for promoting Epic's own payment system, and continued in numerous iterations, considering the game's presence on the App Store. This summer, Apple blocked Epic's Fortnite submission from the US App Store and the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union.

Don't forget to subscribe to our Newsletter and join our 80 Level Talent platform, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, and Instagram, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.