STOCKHOLM, Aug 16 Reuters Multiplayer shooter game Fortnite is available again on iPhones in the European Union and worldwide on Google39;s Android devices after a gap of four years, following legal measures by the EU, developer Epic Games said on Friday.

Fortnite, created by Epic, a U.S.based studio, and backed by China39;s Tencent, the world39;s largest game studio, launched in 2017 and its lastplayerstanding, battle royale format became an instant hit, drawing in millions of dedicated players.

But in August 2020, Apple and Alphabet39;s Google removed Fortnite from their app stores for violating their guidelines by launching a payment feature, prompting several lawsuits challenging their rules of charging up to 30 commissions on payments.

At the time of the ban, Epic had 116 million users just on Apple39;s platform.

The EU39;s Digital Markets Act DMA law is allowing Epic to launch its game store in the bloc, though Apple is still blocking users outside Europe from accessing Fortnite and its games store, the company said.

We are really grateful to the European Commission for not only passing the DMA and enabling store competition, but also going in and robustly holding Apple and Google39;s feet to the fire to ensure that they can39;t just obstruct competition, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney told reporters.

They were going to great efforts to slow us down, and tried to stop us several times, and the European Commission always stepped up and ensured that competitors were able…