By Supantha Mukherjee

STOCKHOLM, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Multiplayer shooter game

Fortnite is available again on iPhones in the European Union and

worldwide on Google'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 China's Tencent ( TCTZF ), the world's largest game studio,

launched in 2017 and its last-player-standing, "battle royale"

format became an instant hit, drawing in millions of dedicated

players.

But in August 2020, Apple ( AAPL ) and Alphabet'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

Apple's ( AAPL ) platform.

The EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) law is allowing Epic to

launch its game store in the bloc, though Apple ( AAPL ) 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 ( AAPL ) and Google's feet to the

fire to ensure that they can'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 to enter the

market," he said.

The store is launching with Fortnite, Rocket League

Sideswipe and the all-new Fall Guys for mobile, and Epic is

working with other developers to launch their games and apps

through its store.

Epic, which has 75 million monthly active users in its PC

store, expects to add 100 million new mobile users by the end of

the year.

The games would also be available through independent mobile

stores such as AltStore.

However, the installation process is lengthy with a 15-step

installation process on iOS devices, confusing device settings

and scare screens, Epic said.

Apple ( AAPL ) said that to enable the new capabilities for

developers in the EU, it worked to make them as easy as possible

for users while also trying to protect their privacy and

security.

"We probably lost over a billion dollars of revenue by

losing access to the iOS customer base worldwide for four years,

but what's the cost of freedom?," Sweeney said.