Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney admits he misjudged the fallout from his company’s battle with Apple. In 2020, Epic deliberately bypassed App Store payment rules in Fortnite, leading to the game’s removal from the Apple App Store and a legal battle. At the time, Sweeney expected the legal fight would be quick. Instead, it took nearly five years for Fortnite to return to iOS in the United States.
Now that the game is back, Epic is trying to make up for what they have lost. “All future growth of Fortnite will primarily be on mobile,” Sweeney says to The Verge. The company is rolling out updates and new payment options to enhance its mobile presence. However, that long absence came at a high cost, amounting to over $1 billion in lost revenue.
Miscalculation and Legal Fallout
Epic’s strategy was to provoke Apple into a legal standoff over App Store control. But while it framed the issue as one of fairness, the courts didn’t agree. Apple won nearly every point in the case, except one narrow ruling on “anti-steering,” which required Apple to let developers promote alternate payment options.
Epic had hoped that Fortnite would be banned only briefly. “I had actually hoped that we would get an injunction against Apple blocking Fortnite and that we’d only be off for a few weeks,” Sweeney told The Verge. “But the court process dragged out, and we were off for five years.”
During that time, Epic leaned on other platforms. Still, the absence from iOS left a gap in the game’s global reach. Sweeney says roughly 40 percent of users now choose Epic’s payment system when offered, while 60 percent stick with Apple’s. He expects that number to shift as more players link payment methods to Epic accounts.
A New Focus on Mobile
Now back on the App Store, Fortnite has quickly regained traction. Since its return on May 20, it has reached around 10 million downloads and reclaimed the top spot on the free games chart.
According to Saxs Persson, Epic’s executive vice president for the Fortnite ecosystem, iOS has once again become central to development. He says the game is not yet fully optimized for touch controls and creator-made experiences, but that’s changing. “The doors are open now, and we can actually go and every day make the game better,” Persson said.
Despite the setbacks, Epic sees the mobile market as the key to Fortnite’s future. Whether users fully embrace Epic’s payment options remains to be seen.
