Fortnite is again on iOS at the moment… kind of. The in style battle royale sport isn’t again on the App Store (the place it’s been lacking since Apple pulled the app from its storefront in August 2020), however iPhone and iPad homeowners can now stream Fortnite to play on their telephones and tablets by means of Nvidia’s GeForce Now service, which opened up a closed beta at the moment to check the brand new streaming model of the sport.

Nvidia and Epic Games have been promising that Fortnite would come again to iOS by means of GeForce Now operating by means of Safari’s net browser (the one manner that Apple presently permits sport streaming companies like GeForce Now, Stadia, xCloud, or Luna to function on iOS) as far back as November 2020, when the service first launched on Apple’s {hardware}. But it’s apparently taken fairly a little bit of time to kind out the small print.

Fortnite has technically already been out there on GeForce Now for Android customers, however that model of the sport is a streamed copy of the desktop model of Fortnite. The new model that Nvidia and Epic Games are beta testing is optimized for cell units, with related touchscreen controls and menus to the previous native iOS and Android variations of the sport. (Nvidia warns that Android customers who be a part of the beta will solely be capable of play the brand new cell model of Fortnite and received’t be capable of use a keyboard and mouse like they presently can.)

According to Nvidia, beta sign-ups begin at the moment, with “selected members” set to get entry later in January. The firm says that the Fortnite beta will likely be a “limited time” course of however that “we do not have an exact timeline for how long it will last.” Anyone eager about attempting the brand new streamed model of Fortnite can enroll at Nvidia’s web site, with each free and paid GeForce Now prospects getting an “equal chance at the closed beta.”

Nvidia is notably the one sport streaming service that Epic Games is partnering with for Fortnite — as a deposition within the Apple / Epic trial revealed final 12 months, Epic intentionally isn’t permitting Microsoft to supply Fortnite as a part of its xCloud service, resulting from issues that xCloud would compete with Epic’s personal PC choices. Streaming Fortnite by means of xCloud to iOS would additionally require that Epic pay Microsoft’s 30 p.c charge for in-app purchases — related in Epic’s eyes to the Apple charges that led to the corporate’s lawsuit within the first place.

Nvidia’s GeForce Now service, however, simply acts as a conduit for Epic’s current storefront, which means that Epic Games received’t have handy over a cent of any of the in-game purchases gamers make on the brand new streamed model of Fortnite by means of GeForce Now.

Epic and Nvidia aren’t saying how lengthy the beta will final or when to anticipate the GeForce Now-streamed model of Fortnite to be broadly out there for all Android and iOS customers. And whereas sport streaming has improved in leaps and bounds lately, it’s onerous to think about that the streamed model will likely be a greater long-term resolution than the native Fortnite app that was once on the App Store. Still, for Fortnite followers seeking to get a fast spherical in on the go, the GeForce Now choice will in all probability be higher than nothing.