Epic has warned people still playing Fortnite on iOS devices that the latest update could permanently delete the game.
2020 will be remembered for a lot of things, most of them bad. In the gaming world, one of those things will be the legal battle between Epic and Apple. In actual fact, it seems as if the battle will extend into 2021 and beyond as Apple appears to want Fortnite off of its devices for at least a year, and maybe even indefinitely.
The trouble between the two behemoths began when Epic tried to undercut the profit Apple makes from Fortnite via a V-Bucks sale. That resulted in Fortnite being removed from the Apple Store, and Epic being forced to discontinue support for people playing the game on iOS devices. That means anyone with the Fortnite app on an iOS device can still play the game, but they will forever be trapped in Chapter 2, Season 3.
That’s providing players didn’t encounter any game-breaking bugs, of course, as without support from Epic, those bugs cannot be fixed. However, the latest twist in this tale may result in the Fortnite app being forcibly deleted from iOS devices without players even realizing it. Epic has highlighted how that can happen via the Fortnite Status Twitter account.
“If the message ‘Temporarily Remove Apps to Install the Software Update?’ is accepted, it may result in Fortnite being deleted,” the tweet reads. The update in question is iOS 14. If a device is at or near capacity, it may need to remove apps to make room for the update. The trouble is, if that were to happen to Fortnite, the app would be lost forever since it is no longer available to reinstall via the app store.
This doesn’t appear to be a malicious move on Apple’s part. It’s not as if Fortnite will be targeted when the software is selecting apps to delete in order to make room for the update. However, it’s not something we’d expect Apple to warn anyone about as it would likely prefer no one has Fortnite installed on an iOS device. Considering how much iPhones with Fortnite installed on them are selling for right now, it might be worth skipping this update for as long as possible.
