For context, Fortnite was taken off the iOS and macOS App Store back in 2020. This was set off by Epic Games knowingly breaching App Store guidelines in by adding alternative payment options that circumvented Apple’s own payment system in the iOS version of Fortnite.

While Fortnite still won’t be available on the App Store, Apple’s new policy of allowing other storefronts to be available on iOS devices will allow Epic Games to bring the Epic Games Store to the platform. Through its own store, Epic will be free to allow the download of Fortnite on iOS devices after over 3 years.

As for if Fortnite will ever come to the App Store, Apple told Epic back in September 2021 that it won’t allow the game on to its storefront until all court appeals are done with, which could take as long as five years.

Remember Fortnite on iOS?

How bout we bring that back.

Later this year Fortnite will return in Europe on iOS through the @EpicGames Store.
(shoutout DMA – an important new law in the EU making this possible). @Apple, the world is watching. pic.twitter.com/VdHWTe8i1c

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) January 25, 2024

Though you might audibly groan at a game developer trying to break into mobile gaming, wondering what’s the point, there’s certainly a big market out there for it. According to App Annie in its Q2 2019 App Index report, 11.2 billion mobile games were downloaded between April to June 2019. The most popular platform was Google Play.

As such, games account for 35 percent of all global app downloads on mobile phones for the quarter. However, they also make up 75 percent of total consumer spending on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Some of the bigger markets for Google Play downloads included India, Brazil, and the United States with Arcade, Action, and Casual being the top three categories for games.

On the Apple App Store, the United States was the biggest market, followed by China and Japan. Arcade, Action, and Puzzle were the top three game categories there. In terms of spending, Fate/Grand Order was on top, followed by Honour of Kings and Candy Crush Saga. However, for average monthly active users, it was PUBG Mobile that topped the pack.

Epic Games has announced that the Infinity Blade Trilogy, its mobile action adventure series that actually garnered a fair bit of critical and commercial acclaim for its production values, is no longer available on the Apple App Store. Those who still own the games can re-download them with the same account, though. This will be the solution for the “foreseeable future”.

Why is it being pulled? According to the developer in a public statement, it’s becoming tougher to support the game, with projects like Spyjinx taking up resources. Global creative director Donald Mustard stated, “The Infinity Blade series will always hold a special place for me personally and for Epic as a whole. It’s always bittersweet to say goodbye, but we are excited for Spyjinx and what the future holds!”

Infinity Blade 3 will still see some support over the next month with updated Clash Mobs and special items. Fans can also download an app for Infinity Blade Stickers absolutely free. What’s interesting is the statement at the end of the post, where Epic notes, “Be sure to keep your eyes peeled! You may find Infinity Blade popping up in places you wouldn’t expect.” It then has a trailer for Fortnite: Season 7 at the end. Could Infinity Blade be related to the swords cropping up in the Fortnite: Battle Royale map?

Time will tell, but for now, Infinity Blade’s time has passed. Stay tuned for more information on Epic Games’ Spyjinx in the meantime.

RedLynx’s free to play mobile off shoot of the franchise Trials Frontier is already a stupendous success on iOS, having been downloaded more than 6 million times in its first week. Frontier was the number one free app on the Apple App Store according to App Annie and also the third most downloaded iPhone game in the US, along with ranking in the top 100 highest grossing apps list across 74 regions. The most purchased pack in this case was the “Special Starter Pack” which retails for $3.

Trials Frontier takes the experience to mobiles in a strong fashion, featuring a post-apocalyptic universe with new tracks, gear, riders and bikes to unlock along with missions to complete. Best of all, you can compete friends and rank on leaderboards worldwide.

Frontier also syncs up with Trials Fusion to unlock new content. Have you partaken of both games yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Dungeon Keeper recently released for iOS and Android, and has been getting skewered by the press and gamers alike for its transaction model. The game places heavy time limits on the most basic of tasks, which can be sped up by spending gems. Of course, the gems require real money to purchase and the game constantly reminds you to purchase them in order to speed up the proceedings.

EA Mythic’s Jeff Skalski addressed these concerns to TabTimes, stating that, “It’s important to emphasize that we designed a game that is built around the typical mobile play patterns. This means Dungeon Keeper is meant to be played on the go multiple times a day with a few minutes here or there. This way of playing allows fans to naturally progress as a free player.

“That’s not to say you can’t quickly blow past 30 minutes in one sitting by summoning new minions, reorganizing your dungeon layout, find a keeper to attack, check in with your guild, queue up your next digs then take on a new event raid before calling it a night.”

The game seems to have a fairly decent average on both the Play Store and App Store, although there are tons of negative reviews overall. Stay tuned to see how quickly EA back-peddles from this practice, if they do at all.

Candy Crush Saga developer King recently trademarked the word “CANDY”. No, seriously. It trademarked the word and talked about pursuing clones that were infringing on the success of its multi-million dollar puzzle game which is available for iOS and Android.

In conversation with Games Industry International, a spokesperson for the studio assuaged concerns over the trademark. “We have trademarked the word ‘CANDY’ in the EU, as our IP is constantly being infringed and we have to enforce our rights and to protect our players from confusion. We don’t enforce against all uses of CANDY – some are legitimate and of course, we would not ask App developers who use the term legitimately to stop doing so.” So if you’ve recently decided to create a first person shooter that has the word “Candy” in it, you’re safe.

As for instances where the developer wants to enforce its copyright, the spokesperson stated that, “The particular App in this instance was called ‘Candy Casino Slots – Jewels Craze Connect: Big Blast Mania Land’, but its icon in the App store just says ‘Candy Slots’, focusing heavily on our trademark. As well as infringing our and other developer’s IP, use of keywords like this as an App name is also a clear breach of Apple’s terms of use.

“We believe this App name was a a calculated attempt to use other companies’ IP to enhance its own games, through means such as search rankings.”

This sounds like a case of “best possible intentions” and could possibly go wrong at some point. Then again, maybe it couldn’t. What are your thoughts on the same? Let us know below.

After many, many delays, much-awaited Baldur’s Gate 2: Enhanced Edition is now available for iOS albeit for the iPad only. You can pick it up on the Apple App Store for $14.99, and it includes the original game Shadows of Amn along with the the Throne of Bhaal expansion.

But that’s not all – you’ll also receive four new party members with new story quests associated with each to further add to the replay value. If that weren’t enough, you also get The Black Pits 2: Gladiators of Thay, which presents an arena challenge for your party to conquer.

Already available on the PC and Mac OS X, also after many delays, distributor Beamdog faced contractual issues with publisher Atari that prevented the game’s release. Those issues have since been resolved and now the game is freely available for all intended platforms (though we still wait for that elusive Android version). Have you played the game yet? Let us know in the comments below.

Following recent news that Rhythm Thief was removed from the Apple App Store due to technical difficulties, publisher Sega revealed that the iOS title is now available again.

Originally, the game suffered from some technical difficulties that necessitated its removal. In a statement to VG247, Sega stated that, “An unexpected problem has been discovered in the version of Rhythm Thief that was available yesterday on the Apple App Store, so we have removed it temporarily from the store as we work on a fix.

“Our development team is hard at work to update the game and it will be back online very soon. Anyone who has purchased the game already will be able to play it as soon as it is back. We will keep you updated and we thank you in advance for your continued patience.”

As of now, everything seems to be working fine. Have you noticed any problems with the game thus far? Let us know in the comments below.

The official 2013 sales numbers are in and it looks like Apple has had a huge year as far as sales on the App Store are concerned.

As the end of year numbers came in, Apple showed a grand total of over $10 billion in sales, and in the month of December alone the App store sold over 3 billion apps, ringing in over a whopping $1 billion for the month. It’s safe to say that mobile apps are certainly now one of the biggest points of revenue in Apple’s grand scheme.

Some of their more notable titles released on the app store this year include: Candy Crush Saga, Puzzle & Dragons, Minecraft, QuizUp and Clumsy Ninja. Apple has also named companies Simogo (Year Walk, Device 6), Frogmind (Badland), Atypical Games (Battle Supremacy) and Plain Vanilla Corp as developers to watch in 2014.

With the prevalence of iPhones, iPads and the assimilation of the App Store onto home computers, Apple has effectively cross-platformed the app industry in a way that most other companies are incapable of. Microsoft tried with Windows 8, but the results were almost universally disliked. What are your thoughts on Apple’s success? Let us know below.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games, LucasArts and LEGO has jointly announced that LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga is now available on the Apple App Store for iOS platforms. This means iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The game takes the entire film saga, from Episode 1: The Phantom Menace all the way to Episode 6: Return of the Jedi, and represents it in stellar LEGO fashion.

Tom Stone, Managing Director for TT Games, stated that, “We are very proud and excited to make our acclaimed LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga available to iOS players. With hundreds of character customisation options, a plethora of puzzles to solve, and vast worlds to explore, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga for iOS will have mobile gamers enjoying endless hours of gameplay.”

The game boasts 120 characters and allows you to play as either a Jedi Knight or Sith Lord. You can also play as Han Solo if you desire, with 36 levels in total. If you download the app, you’ll get The Phantom Menace for free, but you’ll need to pay for the other episodes. Other modes, missions and levels are also available via micro-transactions.