Nvidia to Bring 'Fortnite' Back to iPhones Amid Epic's App Store Fight
November 19 2020 - 4:09PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah E. Needleman
Epic Games Inc. and other developers battling Apple Inc. over
its App Store controls are getting an ally in Nvidia Corp., as the
graphics-chip company said it is expanding a service that would let
users play games including "Fortnite" on their iPhones.
Nvidia on Thursday launched a test version of its GeForce Now
platform on Apple's iOS mobile operating system. It lets people
play games through their Safari browsers, rather than through
apps.
The chip maker said hundreds of games are available, though
these don't yet include Epic's popular "Fortnite," whose app
version Apple blocked from its App Store in August as part of a
legal battle with Epic.
Alphabet Inc.'s Google also booted the game from its app
marketplace. Apple and Google said Epic violated their rules by
adding an unapproved payment system to "Fortnite" that circumvented
the 30% commission they collect on in-app purchases.
Apple and Nvidia have had a long, though mixed, relationship.
Apple has moved mostly to using graphics-chip units, Nvidia's
specialty, from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. But the
relationship would fundamentally change if Nvidia's $40 billion
plan to buy British chip designer Arm Holdings wins regulatory
approval. Apple uses Arm-based chips in its smartphones and
laptops.
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Its
App Store guidelines include limitations for game-streaming apps
that companies such as Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have
criticized. Apple's guidelines allow iOS users to stream games
outside of the App Store via the internet and web-browser apps.
Apple's App Store policies have drawn regulatory scrutiny. The
European Commission this year opened two antitrust probes to
determine whether Apple violated competition laws with its App
Store and Apple Pay service. And in October, a House subcommittee
accused Apple of wielding anticompetitive power that harms rivals
and benefits itself. In particular, the subcommittee report
questioned the size of the App Store fee. The Cupertino,
Calif.-based company said this week that it would halve the
commission it charges smaller developers that sell software through
its App Store in a partial concession in its battle with critics
over how it wields power over the system.
With GeForce Now's new Safari option, subscribers can stream
games directly over the internet from the Apple browser on iOS
devices. But players are limited in that it doesn't support
keyboard and mouse-only games because of platform restraints.
The appeal of game streaming, also called cloud gaming, is that
users don't need to download games to their devices, which takes up
memory. They can stream games from any internet-connected device,
eliminating the need to spend hundreds of dollars on dedicated
hardware such as consoles. But the nascent technology poses
challenges for companies to execute smoothly, as games need to
support multiple players with minimal delay regardless of their
location.
Nvidia said it was working with Epic Games, which has been among
the most vocal critics of Apple's app store policy, on an optimal
way to play "Fortnite" over a browser while on a mobile device.
That is delaying the game's availability, though Nvidia said it was
"coming soon."
Nvidia said it added GeForce Now to Google's Chrome browsers on
Chromebooks in August and is working to expand it to more Chrome
platforms early next year. Previously, the service was only
available as an app for computers, Android devices and the
company's Nvidia Shield, a media player similar to Apple TV and
Amazon.com's Inc. Fire TV Stick.
GeForce Now, which exited its broader test status earlier this
year, has grown to more than five million free and paid subscribers
who can access more than 750 games.
Several other tech giants have moved into cloud gaming in the
past year, including Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Google. In
addition, Sony Corp. has offered it for several years through the
PlayStation Now service on its consoles.
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 19, 2020 15:54 ET (20:54 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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