Epic’s Fortnite is currently not in Apple’s App Store, but the company wants it brought back. This is according to a tweet by the official Fortnite account where they cite a newly-passed law in South Korea in which companies like Apple and Google are now forced to accept third-party payments in their app stores.
For those who are unfamiliar, one of the issues Epic had with Apple was that they were taking a cut from in-app purchases, which at 30% they felt was too much. They then tried to circumvent the App Store which led to the game being booted out, which then led to them suing Apple over it. The case is still ongoing, but Epic is now hoping that the new laws in Korea will help them bring the back game onto iOS devices, at least as far as the Korean market is concerned.
Epic has asked Apple to restore our Fortnite developer account. Epic intends to re-release Fortnite on iOS in Korea offering both Epic payment and Apple payment side-by-side in compliance with the new Korean law.
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) September 9, 2021
It is currently unclear how Apple will approach third-party payments in Korea. This is because it is practically unheard of. Ever since the inception of the App Store, Apple has only used their own payments and mandated that developers use it too. However, this year alone we have seen Apple sort of concede a bit in that area.
The company has stated that developers are now allowed to inform users via email that there are alternative payment methods. They are also allowing reader apps to include a link to external websites to manage their accounts. None of this is Apple actually implementing third-party payment support, but we suppose that is the entire point.
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