'Fortnite' returns to the iPhone through Nvidia's Geforce Now

Nvidia and Epic Games have announced that "Fortnite" will make its return to Apple platforms through the GeForce Now cloud streaming service, though only via web browser.

"Fortnite," of course, has been missing from the App Store since August 2020 — and it appears that this will remain the case for a while. However, Nvidia on Thursday announced an alternative for "Fortnite" players on iPhone and iPad.

Nvidia has officially opened up a beta for the streamed version of "Fortnite" on iOS and Android. In the case of Apple devices, gamers will be able to play "Fortnite" via Apple's Safari browser.

Unlike the currently available version of "Fortnite" on of GeForce Now, the version being beta tested will be a native mobile variant optimized for touch-based controls. "Fortnite" is technically already available for Android, but only as a desktop port.

The GeForce Now service is a cloud gaming platform that allow users to stream titles across their devices. On iOS, GeForce Now is accessible via web browser, which is the only way that iPhone or iPad users can use cloud-based game streaming platforms.

Interested players can sign up for Nvidia's "Fortnite" beta on the company's website. The testers will get access later in January, but Nvidia notes that only "selected members" will receive an invite.

"Fortnite" is the centerpiece of a tortuous and ongoing legal battle between developer Epic Games and Apple.

In August 2020, Epic snuck a direct payment mechanism into "Fortnite" in violation of Apple's guidelines, leading to the game's removal from the App Store. That led to a lawsuit and court battle that largely ended up in Apple's favor.

However, both Apple and Epic Games have appealed the decision.

6 Comments

9secondkox2 3120 comments · 8 Years

About 2 years ago

Meh. I think the hot season for Fortnite is dying.

Those kinds of games are fun for a while and then not so much.

Apple should buy bungie, Konami, hire kojima, and others and get serious about Apple Arcade.

foregoneconclusion 2834 comments · 12 Years

This generally proves that Epic's complaints about the App Store are without merit. iPhone users all have access to the internet for making payments, finding information about developers and their products/services, and using web based software. The App Store and its rules are not a barrier to those things.

mbdrake76 43 comments · 10 Years

I often play Fortnite on my 14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro via GeForce Now RTX3080 tier at Epic settings with a resolution of 1440p and it's absolutely fine - every bit as good as playing it natively on my HP Omen laptop with RTX2060. Providing you've got the bandwidth and latency, GeForce Now is a good option. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (which I picked up free via the Epic Games Store) runs around 100-135fps at 1440p on GeForce Now. GFN could do with more support from developers, but ultimately I'm very happy with the performance and availability of the service.

dope_ahmine 264 comments · 4 Years

mbdrake76 said:

I often play Fortnite on my 14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro via GeForce Now RTX3080 tier at Epic settings with a resolution of 1440p and it's absolutely fine - every bit as good as playing it natively on my HP Omen laptop with RTX2060. Providing you've got the bandwidth and latency, GeForce Now is a good option. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (which I picked up free via the Epic Games Store) runs around 100-135fps at 1440p on GeForce Now. GFN could do with more support from developers, but ultimately I'm very happy with the performance and availability of the service.
@mbdrake76 Lucky you
. You must basically live on top of a GFN server that is hooked straight into a Fortnite server. In Europe it’s hard to reach 60 fps at 1080 when playing this game, even with Gb/s internet connections. Most of the time its more like 20-30 fps, and with second-long dropouts when scenes change rapidly or plenty of players enter your viewfield.

The problems are many: GFN servers are overloaded, the nearest GFN server is too far from you, the nearest Fortnite server is too far from your GFN server etc. Nvidia is at best only optimizing the first link in this chain. Their service would be better if they tried to optimize the whole gaming experience. But I seriously doubt they could match the performance of a real gaming console today — except maybe in those rare cases of @mbdrake76 ’s situation.

dope_ahmine said:

@mbdrake76 Lucky you. You must basically live on top of a GFN server that is hooked straight into a Fortnite server. In Europe it’s hard to reach 60 fps at 1080 when playing this game, even with Gb/s internet connections. Most of the time its more like 20-30 fps, and with second-long dropouts when scenes change rapidly or plenty of players enter your viewfield.

The problems are many: GFN servers are overloaded, the nearest GFN server is too far from you, the nearest Fortnite server is too far from your GFN server etc. Nvidia is at best only optimizing the first link in this chain. Their service would be better if they tried to optimize the whole gaming experience. But I seriously doubt they could match the performance of a real gaming console today — except maybe in those rare cases of @mbdrake76 ’s situation.

I must admit to having thrown a bit of money at it.

I'm based in South East England, and I imagine I'm connecting to NP-LON-05 with good routing from Virgin Media on a 1Gbs connection (and I've just updated my router to a Netgear Nighthawk RAX200 which has definitely improved sustained throughput). I'm connecting to NA-East Fortnite servers which usually provides better players than Europe (and more of them during bouts of insomnia), and don't experience any performance issues (yet). The RTX3080 tier is the most expensive plan, and its difficult to ascertain how many people are currently using it - but so far I've always been able to connect without issue.

This is a 10-minute sample of Fortnite gameplay on GFN RTX3080, using the GFN client on macOS Monterey (which is partially Apple silicon native):

https://youtu.be/IOqPOYC9wdQ