Epic CEO Tim Sweeney accuses Apple of 'malicious compliance' as Fortnite finally returns to iOS, but only in Europe and with a convoluted install process

Epic Games and its CEO, Tim Sweeney, have been at war with Apple for years now. The present situation is this: Epic only wants to put Fortnite on iPhones and iPads if it can use its own store and payment processor instead of the official Apple App Store, which takes a 30% cut of revenue. Apple, meanwhile, would prefer it if Epic did not do that.

Epic didn't get the ruling it wanted when it sued Apple over this issue in the US, but the story is different in Europe. The European Union's 2022 Digital Markets Act now requires Apple to allow third-party marketplaces on iOS devices, which means that Epic can finally sell Fortnite V-bucks in Europe without paying Apple a cut for the privilege of accessing one of the world's largest mobile device markets (except in the form of a brand new fee Apple has devised in response to the law, which Epic also takes issue with).

The time has finally come for the two companies to put the law into practice: Epic has announced that the Epic Games Store is launching on iOS today in Europe, and worldwide on Android. For now, it'll house just three games: Fall Guys, Rocket League Sideswipe, and Fortnite, the latter of which has notably been unavailable to download on iOS since Epic intentionally broke Apple's TOS in 2020 in an act of corporate protest.

The catch is that Apple has not made it especially easy to install the new Epic Games Store iOS app. On a call with press earlier this week, Sweeney accused Apple of «malicious compliance,» saying that the company has technically done what's required by the EU, but has been «terribly obstructive» to Epic and other companies along the way (at one point, Apple revoked Epic's developer account). 

One way Apple has been obstructive, says Epic, is by designing an off-putting 15-step install process for third-party marketplaces.

Some of the installation steps are normal, such as clicking an «install» button on the Epic Games website, and Epic stretches the definition of «installation step» by