Only two days after terminating Fortnite developer Epic Games’ Swedish developer account, Apple has had the account reinstated to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) following the announcement of an investigation into the action by the EU.
On March 6, Epic announced that their previously approved developer account in Sweden had been banned by Apple for criticizing the tech giant’s DMA compliance plan and presenting a threat to their ecosystem. This account would have enabled the publisher to put the Epic Games Store on Apple devices in Europe after their games had been previously removed from Apple platforms in 2021.
Now, Epic has said that the account is back online. “Apple has told us and committed to the European Commission that they will reinstate our developer account,” they said in blog post. “This sends a strong signal to developers that the European Commission will act swiftly to enforce the Digital Markets Act and hold gatekeepers accountable. We are moving forward as planned to launch the Epic Games Store and bring Fortnite back to iOS in Europe.”
This move comes after EU industry chief Thierry Breton said that the EU would be looking into the issue, as Apple may have been acting in violation of the DMA, which prohibits major tech providers from acting as gatekeepers to third parties looking to publish on their platforms.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who has been a vocal critic of Apple in the past, called the response “a big win for European rule of law, for the European Commission, and for the freedom of developers worldwide to speak up,” and confirmed that the Epic Games Store and Fortnite would be returning to Apple devices.
This is a big win for Epic Games in its ongoing feud with Apple, and could potentially set a precedent for its games to return to Apple devices in other regions as well.