The popular mobile gaming app, Fortnite is making a comeback on iOS and iPadOS devices months after being removed from Apple’s App Store. BBC News discovered that the game is available on Nvidia GeForce cloud gaming service and iPhone and iPad users can access it via the Safari browser.
Currently, Fortnite’s developer, Epic Games, and Apple are tangled in a bitter court battle over the 30% commission rate of in-app purchases via the iOS App Store. The lucrative partnership between the companies turned acrimonious when Epic Games released a controversial update on the Fortnite app which allowed the developer to take direct payments for all in-app purchases without paying the 30 percent commission fee. In return, Apple banned the game from its digital ecosystem and that decision was validated by the court recently.
Fortnite returns on iOS via Nvidia GeForce
The multinational technology manufacturing company, Nvidia offers a cloud gaming service, GeForce which allows players to continue their games on browsers of various devices and platforms like Mac, iOS, Windows, Linux, Android, and others. Fortunately for millions of Fortnite iOS players, the manufacturer’s GeForce cloud service is compatible with iPhone and iPad web browser, Safari.
Ostensibly, this seems like a win for Epic Games because Apple can not ban third-party services from offering the game and can not claim any share of in-app purchases made via the browser. This means that iOS users enjoy the new season 2 of the game which was not released on iOS. However, it is observed that the gaming sessions on the cloud service are restricted to an hour and do not deliver the same smooth gaming experience as the app. The report states:
“One recent review of GeForce Now praised the platform’s performance but warned that there was an “occasional degradation in the video quality” and reports of “spotty connection” errors, even when tested on fast internet connections.”
At the moment of writing, Nividia has declined to comment but an official announcement is expected before the winter holidays. Maybe, the Epic Games and Apple settle the matter amicably outside court before the trial in May 2021 for the sake of the players and not money. Until that happens, GeForce is the only way iOS users can continuing playing Fortnite.
