FORTNITE’S massive new update has arrived today – but it won’t be coming to iPhone or iPad.
It means Fortnite is effectively splitting into two for the first time ever.
That’s because Apple and Epic Games are currently butting heads over App Store rules.
Apple has banned Fortnite from the App Store after Epic Games tried to dodge the iPhone maker’s 30% cut.
Now no new gamers can install Fortnite on an iPhone, and people who have the app can’t update it.
Gamers on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC and Android will all get the new version of the game.
And like before, they’ll be able to use cross-play to battle with each other across consoles and PC.
But iPhone owners will be booted out of this system.
This means they’ll be stuck playing with each other, massively cutting the number of players they can battle against.
And it means they won’t get any of the new goodies coming in Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 4.
Epic Games had added in loads of iconic superheroes from the Marvel universe.
Top names include Iron Man and Thor (of The Avengers fame), as well as Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy.
Other major characters landing in Fortnite include Storm, Mystique, Doctor Doom and She-Hulk – lesser-known but longstanding and popular Marvel creations.
And we can even expect to see a surprise debut by Wolverine later in the season, but details are light so far.
There are huge changes to the map, new weapons to enjoy, and an entire season of updates to come.
But iPhone owners will miss all of this.
Epic Games tried to overturn the game’s ban on iPhones and iPads – but was denied in courts.
US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said Apple was fine to ban Fortnite.
Epic Games will now have to comply with the App Store rules, or live with Fortnite being permanently banned from the iPhone.
As part of an ongoing PR war, Epic Games recently held a #FreeFortnite tournament with “anti-Apple” prizes – including Samsung gadgets.
Apple and rival tech giant Google have come under fire in recent years for operating alleged “monopolies” in which they stifle competition and take colossal cuts on sales made through their app stores.
“Apple has become what it once railed against: The behemoth seeking to control markets, block competition, and stifle innovation,” Epic said in its lawsuit against Apple, filed in the Northern District of California.
“Apple is bigger, more powerful, more entrenched, and more pernicious than the monopolists of yesteryear.”
The recent ban means it’s impossible to download Fortnite through the official Apple and Google stores.
However, handsets with Fortnite still installed are being sold for thousands of pounds online.
Most of the listings fall somewhere between $2,000 and $7,000.
That’s far above the typical price of a used iPhone, which could range from just a few hundred pounds to slightly north of $1,000, depending on the model.
It seems few “Fortnite handsets” are actually selling at these vastly inflated prices.
But HOAR has seen a “completed listing” – which means the product has sold and shipped – for $3,800 in the US.
In other news, a Mum was left devastated after her Fortnite addict son splashed $20,000 on Twitch live-streamers.
Samsung’s new Note 20 smartphone comes with Xbox games as part of its bid to topple Apple’s iPhone.
Microsoft will launch a second new console later this year dubbed the Xbox Series S, photos leaked online suggest.
