Epic Games Plots Fortnite Mobile Return in UK Under New Tech Law
Epic Games is laying the groundwork to bring Fortnite back to UK iPhones, relying on the upcoming DMCC Act to break Apple’s mobile monopoly by 2026.
The British Battleground for Mobile Gaming
Epic Games is gearing up for its next major regulatory showdown. This time, the focus isn’t on Brussels or Washington, but on London. The creator of Fortnite is quietly positioning itself to launch its own mobile storefront in the UK, aiming to bypass Apple and Google’s hefty app store fees. The key to this strategy is a landmark British law set to show its teeth by late 2026.
While European gamers got Fortnite back on iOS in August 2024 through the EU’s Digital Markets Act, British players are still locked out of the native mobile experience. Epic’s chief executive, Tim Sweeney, wants to change that. He is playing a long game, waiting for the UK’s new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act to force tech giants to open their platforms to rival marketplaces.
How the DMCC Act Will Shake Up App Stores
The DMCC Act officially became law in May 2024. But writing a bill is only the first step. The real heavy lifting is happening inside the offices of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The regulator is currently building a new digital oversight unit. This team will officially label dominant tech giants as having “Strategic Market Status.” Once that label sticks, the CMA can impose customized codes of conduct on them.
Unlike the European Union’s broad rules, the UK wants to tailor its restrictions for each individual company. This custom approach takes time. Industry experts expect the CMA to finalize these specific codes of conduct around late 2025, with actual enforcement coming into full effect in 2026. Epic is already aligning its UK launch strategy with this timeline, preparing to launch the Epic Games Store the moment the legal barriers drop.
Fighting Malicious Compliance
Epic’s vision goes beyond simply launching its own app. The publisher wants to support an entire ecosystem of independent mobile storefronts. Sweeney has repeatedly advocated for a multi-store future where developers have choices. Epic plans to release Fortnite not just on its own app store, but also on other third-party marketplaces like AltStore.
However, Epic is already warning British regulators about “malicious compliance” from dominant players. In Europe, Apple complied with the law but introduced a Core Technology Fee of fifty cents for every annual app install after the first million downloads. Epic argues this fee makes third-party stores financially impossible for smaller creators. The company is actively lobbying the CMA to ban these types of fees in the UK before the 2026 regulations go live.
The Long Road to Late 2026
The stakes are incredibly high. For years, Apple and Google have taken a thirty percent cut of digital transactions. For a massive moneymaker like Fortnite, that fee translates to hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue. Epic’s counter-strategy is simple. By offering a lower twelve percent fee on its own PC store, it proved it could win over developers. It wants to replicate that success on mobile phones.
Yet, the path to 2026 is full of hurdles. Apple has consistently defended its ecosystem, arguing that its fees pay for the strict security, developer tools, and proprietary tech that make modern apps possible. Legal challenges from tech giants could easily delay the CMA’s timelines.
For now, UK gamers are stuck in limbo. They can play Fortnite on iPhones only through cloud streaming services, which require a constant internet connection and lack the speed of a native app. Epic’s high-stakes push in the UK is a marathon. The next two years will decide whether mobile gaming in Britain truly becomes an open market or if the closed ecosystems remain intact.
