Fortnite Now Available On iOS And Other Devices With Xbox Cloud Gaming Partnership

Epic Games is partnering with Microsoft to bring Fortnite back to Apple devices by making the battle royale available for free on the Xbox Cloud Gaming service. This way of playing Fortnite makes the game available, starting today, through a supported web browser on iOS and Android phones and tablets as well as PCs.

Moving to the cloud circumvents Apple’s App Store, which Fortnite is currently not on due to actions leading to a lawsuit that began in 2020 and continued well into 2021. Epic Games had forgone iOS App Store policy by allowing Fortnite users to pay Epic directly for digital purchases such as microtransactions, side-stepping Apple’s mandatory 30% cut on these transactions on its platform. Two companies went to court about the legality and practices of Apple. This led to an injunction requiring Apple to stop app developers from adding links to outside sites that allow for other payment options than through its App Store. Fortnite was taken off the App Store’s App Store on August 2020. It has not been back since. iOS users are left without an option to continue playing the game.

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, took to Twitter in support of the announcement. He specifically mentioned how Epic Games won’t be required to adhere to Apple’s payments policy. He says, “Monumental news everyone! Fortnite can now be played FREE via streaming on web browsers for iPhone, iPad and Android via Xbox Cloud. No subscription required, no 30% Apple tax.”

Typically, streaming games using Xbox Cloud Gaming requires a Game Pass subscription, but those requirements are waived for Fortnite. According to a blog post from Microsoft’s head of cloud gaming, Catherine Gluckstein, those who want to play Fortnite through the service only need to make a Microsoft account and go to Xbox.com/play to start dropping on the Fortnite island. You’ll likely also need to have an Epic login.

Fortnite for Xbox Cloud Gaming supports touch screen controls.

Do you plan to give Fortnite a try? Are you eager to discover the new season of Fortnite? We’d love to hear from you in the comments