Fortnite is back on Apple (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. Report devices as of Friday for a lucky few users thanks to chipmaker Nvidia’s GeForce Now service, which opened up a closed beta to test the new streaming version of the game.
Nvidia and Epic Games, the studio behind the popular third-person shooter, will run the game through GeForce Now on Apple’s Safari’s web browser.
The new version of Fortnite that Nvidia and Epic Games are beta testing is optimized for mobile devices.
GeForce Now is Nvdia’s streaming cloud gaming service. The subscription service gives users unlimited access to a gaming library that is hosted on the company’s servers.
The service supports over 1,000 games on its platform.
Lawsuits, Exclusive Deals and Competition
The relationship between Epic Games and Apple is complicated thanks to a lawsuit between the two companies that resulted in a 185-page ruling.
A U.S. District Judge ruled in September that Apple is breaking the law with its terms stating users must pay for apps and in-app items through the App Store, where the company takes a 30% commission on payments.
Meanwhile, Epic has an exclusive deal with Nvidia, giving GeForce Now a leg up on its Microsoft (MSFT) – Get Microsoft Corporation Report competitor, xCloud.
Epic has its own PC video game titles with which xCloud could potentially compete.
Nvdia and Epic have not said how long the beta will last or when the game will be available to stream more widely for Apple as well as Android users, who already access to the beta.
Nvidia’s GeForce Now service just acts as a conduit for Epic’s existing storefront, meaning that Epic Games won’t have to hand over a cent of any of the in-game purchases players make on the new streamed version of Fortnite through GeForce Now, according to The Verge.
Nvidia shares were up more than 1% at last check Friday.
