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Fortnite will once again be playable on Apple’s hardware thanks to a new collaboration between Epic Games and Nvidia GeForce Now.
After the popular battle royale title was booted off iOS devices back in August 2020, and permanently blacklisted in September last year following the legal dispute between Epic and Apple, it looked like iPhone and iPad players would never be able to return to Fortnite.
That is no longer set to be the case, though, as Nvidia has announced a closed beta that will allow GeForce Now members to stream the game to their smartphones through the iOS Safari browser or the GeForce Now Android app.
And to make this feel like a true return to iOS devices, the beta will allow players to use Fortnite’s mobile touch controls – though you can also use a gamepad for a more optimal experience.
The beta is open for registration and selected participants will be able to access it later this month. The best news, however, is that – according to the Nvidia press release – “a paid GeForce Now membership is not required to participate.”
Free members, though, can only get access to a streamed performance that mimics a basic rig and can only play in sessions that are up to one hour long before being booted and forced to rejoin the waiting queue. For $9.99 / £8.99 / AU$19.99 per month, players can upgrade to Priority membership for six-hour sessions and servers that can manage 1080p at 60FPS.
For $99.99 / £89.99 per six months, you can access the RTX 3080 tier for eight hour long sessions and servers that mimic gaming rigs that use an RTX 3080 GPU.
Paid tiers have priority when accessing servers for regular use, but it’s not clear if they will also have priority when Nvidia chooses players to be added to the closed beta. We’ve reached out to Nvidia for clarification on the matter.
Even if you aren’t successfully added to the beta right away, though, don’t lose hope – Nvidia has said batches of new players will be added over the coming weeks as it tests server loads.
We have also requested a comment from Apple to find out what its view on the situation is – as this new strategy circumvents its attempt to ban Fortnite from iOS devices. We’ll be sure to update you if we get a response.