The multiplayer shooting game Fortnite has resumed its availability on iPhones within the European Union and is now accessible on Google’s Android devices globally, as officially announced by Epic Games on Friday.

Initially launched in 2017 by Epic, a United States-based studio supported by Tencent, the world’s largest gaming company, Fortnite swiftly gained popularity with its “battle royale” format where the last player standing wins, attracting millions of dedicated players.

However, in August 2020, both Apple and Google removed Fortnite from their app stores due to a violation of their guidelines, which occurred when Epic introduced a payment feature. This action resulted in multiple lawsuits challenging the companies’ policies that imposed commissions of up to 30% on transactions.

At the time of its removal, Epic boasted 116 million users solely on Apple's platform.

The implementation of the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) has enabled Epic to launch its game store within the region, although Apple continues to restrict access to Fortnite and its game store for users outside Europe, according to the company.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney expressed gratitude towards the European Commission for enacting the DMA, which fosters competition among stores, and for actively ensuring that Apple and Google do not hinder competitors.

"They made significant efforts to impede our progress and attempted to halt us on several occasions, but the European Commission consistently intervened to facilitate market entry for competitors," he stated to reporters.

The store will debut with Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe, and the newly released Fall Guys for mobile, with Epic collaborating with other developers to offer their games and applications through its platform.

With 75 million monthly active users in its PC store, Epic anticipates adding 100 million new mobile users by the year's end.

Additionally, the games will be available via independent mobile stores such as AltStore.

However, the installation process is lengthy with a 15-step installation process on iOS devices, confusing device settings and scare screens, Epic said.

Apple said that to enable the new capabilities for developers in the EU, it worked to make them as easy as possible for users while also trying to protect their privacy and security.

"We probably lost over a billion dollars of revenue by losing access to the iOS customer base worldwide for four years, but what's the cost of freedom?," Sweeney said.