Fortnite to Land on iOS in Japan Next Year

TapTechNews June 14th news, on Wednesday, the official of Fortnite announced on X (Twitter) that it is a big victory for mobile game players and developers in Japan: a new law has been passed by the local government and congress, Epic Mobile Store and Fortnite will land on the local iOS platform in late next year.

TapTechNews attached the background information:

The Japanese Senate plenary session passed the Smartphone Specific Software Competition Promotion Law to regulate the monopoly behavior of giant IT companies in the smartphone application market. This law defines specific software as basic software (such as operating systems), app stores, browsers, search engines, etc. that are particularly needed in the use of smartphones.

This law requires the already dominant Internet enterprise giants to open to relevant competing enterprises in the mobile software market and payment system operation. If there is a violation by the giants, the enterprise will pay 20% of the domestic turnover in Japan as a fine.

This law was first proposed by the Japanese government team last June and will not take full effect until the end of next year. It requires Apple and Google to allow users to download third-party app stores on their platforms and provide alternative payment systems. It is reported that this law is similar to the Digital Markets Act of the European Union.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that Fortnite returned to the iOS platform in the European Union this year and will return to Japan and the United Kingdom next year. From the perspective of app developers and users, this is already a new free world - but the United States is not among them.