games
“Fortnite” could return to iPhones via a detour
The popular online game “Fortnite” is about to return to Apple’s iPhone. Photo: Herwin Bahar/ZUMA Wire/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
With a secret function, the makers of “Fortnite” circumvented Apple’s payment rules and were therefore thrown out of the App Store. Now the game could return to the iPhone via detours.
The popular online game “Fortnite” is about to return via a detour almost a year and a half after being kicked out of Apple’s iPhone.
A version of “Fortnite” with touchscreen control should be playable via the streaming service Geforce Now from next week, as chip specialist Nvidia announced as the operator. However, the experience will initially only be reserved for a few users: initially there should only be a limited test run.
With game streaming, the games are displayed on the users’ screens, but they don’t actually run on their devices, but on the providers’ servers in the network. A basic requirement is a fast Internet connection, so that there are no delays in the control.
Code slipped past app reviewers
The cloud “Fortnite” will not run on the iPhone in an app, but in the web browser Safari. During the test run, the server capacity, the graphics and the quality of the touch control should be put to the test, as Nvidia explained. Interested Geforce Now users can be put on a waiting list. After the end of the test run, a decision should be made on how to proceed, it said.
Apple banned “Fortnite” from the App Store in August 2020 after the developer Epic Games tried to use a trick to overturn the platform’s payment rules. The gaming company had secretly built a feature into its app that allowed users to buy Fortnite items directly from Epic without paying Apple any commissions. The software code required for this was smuggled past Apple’s app inspectors and then activated.
The judge ruled in favor of Apple
In the California court case between Apple and Epic last year, the judge ruled that the game company’s violation of the rules justified the ejection. Apple then announced that it would not allow “Fortnite” back into the App Store for the entire duration of the appeal process.
On Android smartphones, Google also threw “Fortnite” under similar circumstances from its in-house app platform Play Store. However, apps can also be loaded on the phones from other sources. With the Geforce Now test, you should be able to play “Fortnite” with touch controls on Android in the web browser, as Nvidia announced.