No, Fortnite on Apple TV isn't happening

Earlier this week references to Apple TV were found in code for Fortnite. Today it's been revealed by Epic Games that inclusion of Apple TV references in game code does not necessarily mean the game will ever be included amongst Apple TV's television-friendly games. Instead, they've suggested that the codes discovered are merely standard bits and pieces of the base on which the game is built: Unreal Engine.

The game Fortnite is built on the Epic Games game engine Unreal Engine. In that code are reverences to every different platform on which the game engine works. That means Android, iOS, Apple TV, Android TV, PC, Mac, etcetera. The confusing part here is the fact that Fortnite works on most of these platforms.

Now whether Fortnite will eventually make its way to TV-centric platforms – that's a different question altogether. Fortnite isn't bound to say how they'll act in the future on this front – they can straight up lie if they want to. This isn't a courtroom, after all. As such, there's ALWAYS a chance Fortnite might expand beyond its current bounds.

But here's the other things – maybe it shouldn't? We might be at the point in every game's popularity at which the creators of said game need to address the future. Fortnite might be the most popular game of its kind in the world right now, but that won't last forever. Better to concentrate on the platforms it's already on than to expand too far and not have the resources needed to continue on with the basics.

Epic Games PR Nick C provided the following comment on the situation this afternoon: "Epic isn't planning to bring Fortnite to Apple TV. References to tvOS in the Fortnite files are the result of general Unreal Engine support for the Apple TV platform." So there you have it – for now.