Apple suffered a defeat in its long-running legal dispute with Epic Games, with Fortnite at the center of the conflict. Yet the Cupertino, California company refuses to concede, and Epic is gearing up for another round in court.
The return of Fortnite to iOS devices in the U.S. was expected for this weekend, but Apple’s refusal to approve the update halted the comeback.
Epic Games and Apple Could Go Back to Court
Apple originally removed the game from its roster in 2020 for using direct payment technology. The decision kicked off a legal dispute that eventually stopped Apple from charging a fee on purchases made outside the App Store.
In what many see as a retaliatory move after the court ruling, Apple blocked the update request for Fortnite, stopping the game from running on their devices worldwide, not just in the United States.
After what Epic Games deemed a blatant violation of the court’s directive, CEO Tim Sweeney confirmed over the weekend that Apple had blocked the notarization of Fortnite submitted through Epic Games Sweden despite there being no breach of law.
He also announced that they will return to courts to argue that Apple is ignoring the injunction.
Why Hasn’t Fortnite Returned to the U.S. App Store?
Epic Games assures that it notified Apple of its intent to distribute Fortnite in the United States via a submission from its Swedish entity. According to the studio, Apple’s legal representatives did not object to this approach.
On May 9, Epic submitted the game for notarization and review. By May 14, however, there had been no formal response, and the application status remained unresolved. Anticipating the global release of an updated version on May 16, Epic Games Sweden withdrew the pending submission and uploaded a revised build with the scheduled content.
Apple, however, continued to ignore Epic, prompting Sweeney to publicly call out company CEO Tim Cook on social media.
“Hi Tim. How about if you let our mutual customers access Fortnite? Just a thought,” he wrote.
The tech giant finally responded, though not in the way Epic had hoped.
“Apple didn’t accept or reject our Fortnite submission,” Sweeney noted. “They simply said they were going to ignore it until after the 9th Circuit Court rules on their stay request, which would be in late May or June.”
Because of this, Fortnite remains unavailable on iOS devices across both the U.S. and Europe, leaving players without access the game or its new Star Wars content.
“Our release planning relies on platforms supporting app developers like us releasing apps. There is no way a rapidly evolving multi-platform game like Fortnite can operate if platforms use their power or processes to obstruct,” Sweeney added.
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