May 20 (Reuters) - Epic Games' wildly popular multiplayer shooter game "Fortnite" is

available again on Apple's ( AAPL ) App Store in the U.S. from Tuesday, capping a ban of nearly

five years and marking a major win for the video game company.

Epic Games, a U.S.-based studio backed by China's Tencent ( TCTZF ), has been locked in a legal

battle with Apple ( AAPL ) since 2020. Epic Games alleged the iPhone maker's practice of charging a

commission of up to 30% on in-app payments violated U.S. antitrust rules.

Fortnite's return to Apple's ( AAPL ) iOS systems in the U.S. follows an April 30 ruling by a federal

judge saying that Apple ( AAPL ) violated a U.S. court order that required the company to allow greater

competition for app downloads and payment methods in its App Store. The ruling also said that

Apple ( AAPL ) had failed to comply with the judge's prior injunction order and would be referred to

federal prosecutors for a criminal contempt investigation.

Apple ( AAPL ) did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Fortnite's return to its

App Store. "We back fam," Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney posted on social media platform X.

Launched in 2017, Fortnite became an instant hit, drawing millions of players around the

world thanks to its last-player-standing, "battle royale" format. At the time of the ban, Epic

had 116 million users just on Apple's ( AAPL ) platform.

"For Epic Games this was a hard fought win that carried a very steep price and may be too late

to boost its Fortnite game that is now past its prime," said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A.

Davidson. "For Apple ( AAPL ) this is another crack in the armor that the services business relies on -

the funneling of payments through Apple ( AAPL ) in order to charge developers for every transaction."

Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital Advisors, said

this opened the door for subscription apps like Spotify ( SPOT ) and Netflix ( NFLX ) to claw

back margin and for independent studios to monetize without having to pay Apple ( AAPL ) an extra

commission, potentially reshaping iOS economics over the next 12-18 months.

Apple ( AAPL ) and Alphabet's Google had banned Fortnite from their stores in 2020 over a

tussle about in-app payment guidelines. The game had already returned to Google's Android

devices worldwide and iPhones in the EU last year.

The game title was also available on the Epic Games Store and AltStore in the European

Union, Fortnite said on X on Tuesday.