Epic Games Reveals Intentional Withholding Fortnite From Xbox's xCloud Service

The Apple v. Epic Games legal battle has taken another interesting turn, this time involving an outside third party. Epic has indirectly revealed that it is intentionally withholding the massively popular Fortnite from Xbox's xCloud streaming service.

The revelation came from a deposition (via The Verge) involving Epic's vice president of business development Joe Kreiner, who confirmed not only that Fortnite being absent from xCloud was intentional, but Epic "viewed Microsoft’s efforts with xCloud to be competitive with [its] PC offerings." Nvidia's GeForce Now is currently the only way to play Fortnite on iOS devices, along with other games from the Epic Games Store.

GameSpot reached out to Epic Games for comment on the situation. The company said it did not have a statement to make.

The Epic Games vs Apple legal trouble began in August 2020 when Epic sued Apple for antitrust and anticompetitive behavior. The suit arose from a discount for Fortnite's digital currency V-Bucks that was only offered through Epic's online storefront, with the company citing the cut taken by Apple as the reason why the discount wasn't available in the App Store.

Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store entirely, calling the action a terms-of-service violation. Clearly expecting action from Apple, Epic then filed the massive lawsuit almost immediately. A hashtag campaign #FreeFortnite was then launched by Epic on social media, including a parody of Apple's iconic commercial "1984" called "Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite."

A bench trial--meaning a trial with no jury--for the lawsuit is set for next week.