Epic Games has revealed that it doesn’t know whether Fortnite will be returning to the iOS platform in the UK, following the release of two CMA (Competition & Markets Authority) roadmaps regarding Google and Apple’s mobile platforms.
In a post on its website, Epic says that Fortnite‘s “return to iOS in the UK is now uncertain” thanks to the CMA’s decisions, and that it “can’t bring the Epic Games Store to iOS in the UK this year (if ever)”.
For context, the CMA laid out roadmaps for market status investigations into Google and Apple respectively today, and in both cases, requiring the two companies to allow developers to point users to other app stores and payment methods falls under measures the authority “will consider from the first half of 2026”.
Epic calls this a “missed opportunity to introduce competition into a currently-monopolized market”. It’s a decision that’s contradictory to one recently made by the European Commission, which saw Apple slapped with a €500 million fine and forced to “inform customers, free of charge, of alternative offers outside the App Store”.
According to Epic, Apple and Google must be “completely blocked from imposing fees and discriminating against apps using out-of-app payment” if “years of malicious compliance…and no genuine restoration of market competition” are to be avoided.
All of this is to say that if you’ve been hoping to play Fortnite on your iPhone or iPad in the UK, then it looks like you’re going to have a long while to wait; the earliest you can likely expect to play the game on your device is 2026, but it could take even longer than that.
For years now, Epic has been embroiled in legal battles with both Apple and Google over allowing alternate payment systems and storefronts on the two companies’ Android and iOS operating systems.
The fight began back in 2020, when Epic launched a sale that promised discounts if players used the Fortnite studio’s proprietary payment system. Fortnite was removed from Android and iOS as a result, and Epic sued both companies, kicking off the ongoing legal struggle.
Of course, if you’re not in the UK, your iOS Fortnite prospects might be a bit rosier; in May, the game was restored to the US App Store, and of course, Fortnite is also available on Android via the Epic Games Store. If you’re in the UK, though, you’ll just have to wait for more on this.
