Nvidia and Epic Games revealed on Thursday that they have been working on a touch-friendly version of Fortnite for mobile devices that can be played over the internet. Nvidia said that a restricted, limited-time beta for Fortnite on mobile through GeForce Now will begin next week, and that customers to the cloud gaming service can sign up to participate. Sign-ups for the test begin today, with “chosen members” receiving access later in January, according to Nvidia. “The Fortnite beta will be a “limited time” procedure, according to the business, but we do not have a specific schedule for how long it will run. Anyone interested in testing out the new Fortnite streaming version may join up on Nvidia’s website, with both free and premium GeForce Now users given a “equal opportunity at the closed beta.” Epic Games is partnering with Nvidia as the only game streaming service for Fortnite, as revealed in a deposition in the Apple / Epic trial last year. Epic isn’t allowing Microsoft to offer Fortnite as part of its xCloud service due to concerns that xCloud would compete with Epic’s own PC offerings, as revealed in a deposition in the Apple / Epic trial last year. That situation appeared to be stable for a long time. Apple said it wouldn’t let Fortnite back into the App Store until the case’s appeals were finished, which Epic CEO Tim Sweeney claimed might take up to five years. However, the advent of a mobile version of Fortnite, available through GeForce Now, opens the door to Epic and Fortnite fans—at least a crack—by bypassing not just Apple’s payment mechanism, but the App Store altogether.
