- Apple must allow alternative app stores in Japan starting sometime in 2025
- Epic Games intends to launch its store and Fortnite on iOS hardware when the law comes into play
A law compelling Apple to allow alternative app stores in Japan has been passed and is expected to be enforced sometime next year.
As a result, Epic Games is celebrating the tentative return of Fortnite to the country in 2025 via its own store, while CEO Tim Sweeney laments “Apple’s Iron Curtain” remaining in the US.
The Japanese legislation, known as the Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software, is comparable to the EU’s DMA in that it obligates Apple and Google to allow third-party stores and billing services.
Should designated providers like Apple and Google to refuse to comply, they could be fined as much as 20% of their domestic earnings related to the infringing service, and 30% for repeat infringements, starting in 2025.
Consequently, the Epic Games Store can itself be expected to launch on Apple in Japan sometime next year, with Fortnite naturally among the available games for download.
Getting with the times
“A big win for mobile gamers and developers: the Japanese government and the Diet have passed a new law to open up mobile app stores!” the Fortnite account posted on Twitter. “The Epic Games Store & Fortnite will be coming to iOS in Japan in late 2025.”
Sweeney followed this up with his own post, stating: “Fortnite will now return to iOS in Japan and UK next year, and EU this year! This is the new free world, from the point of view of app developers and users. It’s a big club and we ain’t in it: The United States of America is still locked behind Apple’s Iron Curtain.”
When the Japanese legislation was proposed, stipulations said that third-party app stores and payments should be allowed only in cases where user privacy and security would be preserved – maintaining some semblance of the walled garden Apple users find themselves within, while also liberating companies like Epic to distribute their games without reliance on Apple’s App Store.
When Fortnite does return to iOS in Japan, Disney will be well into its multi-year plan to make an “entertainment universe” interoperable with Epic’s battle royale flagship.
