Epic Games’ Fortnite might be making a return to iPhones but this time through Nvidia’s cloud gaming service.
Apple evicted Fortnite from its App Store due to a running legal dispute with the game’s owner, Epic Games.
Nvidia’s GeForce Now service is now available through the Safari web browser – bypassing the store entirely. Nvidia said a touch-enabled Fortnite was “coming soon” to the mobile browser.
GeForce Now usually streams PC games over the internet without having to install them, offering games on-the-go via the use of a keyboard, mouse, and/or controller if there is a good enough internet connection.
On iOS, a gamepad will usually be the only option.
However, the implementation of touch controls in the Safari-based version of Fortnite means it will not be the same as the one that usually runs on PCs. Nvidia said that change “will delay the availability of the game”.
The company said, “While the GeForce Now library is best experienced on mobile with a gamepad, touch is how over 100 million Fortnite gamers have built, battled, and danced their way to victory.”
For Nvidia, the move is about more than just Fortnite. Apple has put onerous restrictions on game-streaming apps which means that GeForce Now, Google Stadia, and Xbox streaming have all been unable to launch on Apple mobile devices via native apps of their own.
But streaming apps through a web browser – instead of a dedicated app – is allowed under Apple’s rules.
Alongside the Safari browser version, Nvidia said it would launch another web browser version, for Chrome, in early 2021.
George Jijiashvili, a games analyst at Omdia, was sceptical about how long the service would remain functional.
Sounding a note of warning, Jijiashvili in a blog post wrote, “GeForce Now will serve as an official workaround for iOS users, but I believe that a reaction from Apple is imminent, which could lead to blocking or diminishing the quality of the service on Safari.”
Other publishers are also planning to bring games to Apple’s devices by a similar route.
Google stated that its Stadia service will soon on iOS devices via a web app while Amazon’s Luna according to early reports is working well during its test phase using the browser-based approach.
