Sorry, Fortnite's not heading to Apple TV

A TVOS reference was found buried in the the game's code. But it has nothing to do with a port of the game.

Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice

I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.

Expertise Photography, PCs and laptops, gaming and gaming accessories

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Lori Grunin

Aug. 21, 2018 11:58 a.m. PT

fortnite-glide — Is Fortnite parachuting onto Apple TV?

Update 2:58 p.m. ET: We received a statement from Epic saying it's not 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." The Unreal Engine is a popular game-development platform.

The original story follows.

Apple TV is one of the few platforms left that insanely popular battle royale game Fortnite hasn't yet conquered. But it might be landing on there, if the reference to "TV OS" found in the game's code presages support.

Fortnite leaker Storm posted a screenshot on Twitter showing the reference buried in the text translation of the hexadecimal code.

#fortnite Fortnite is coming to Apple tvs. tvOS a Apple tv operating system has been found in the files. pic.twitter.com/QBBojQI0SX
— Storm - Fortnite Leaks (@StormLeaks) August 21, 2018

And no, you probably won't have to play via the remote; you can connect a controller to Apple TV. Given that the Android version debuted in conjunction with Samsung's launch of the Galaxy Note 9, it's possible that it could debut in September during Apple's annual hardware announcements.