The battle between Epic Games game Fortnite and Apple is going strong. Early September Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple must allow App Store developers to show users alternative payment systems.
Also, Apple has reportedly denied Epic’s request to reinstate its developer account. That means Fortnite is coming back on App Store anytime soon.
The decision from Judge Rogers to remove Fortnite from App Store last year was valid. According to the ruling, Apple didn’t have to reinstate Epic’s account, instead, that decision was purely up to Apple.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that Apple has denied Epic’s request to have its account reinstated. On the other hand, Apple’s legal team announced that Apple will not allow Fortnite back on the App Store until the final ruling. That is until the exhaustion of all appeals. And this process could take years.
After this decision, Mr Sweeney has said that Epic “Wouldn’t trade an alternative payment system away to get Fortnite back on iOS.” The Epic CEO also tweeted the full e-mail he sent to Apple’s App Store boss Phil Schiller. In the email he has “asked Apple to reactivate our developer account” and that the company “promises” to adhere to Apple’s guidelines. It also stated, “If we get the account back, we’ll bring Fortnite back to Mac as soon as possible, and we’ll reincorporate Fortnite for iOS in our Unreal Engine development and testing process, which will benefit all of our mutual developers.”
“Epic will resubmit Fortnite to the App Store if you adhere to the plain language of the court order and allow apps to include buttons and external links that direct customers to other purchasing mechanisms without onerous terms or impediments to a good user experience. In that case, our remaining dispute will be about competing stores, and I genuinely believe we could find common ground on the topic of Apple’s position were based solely on user security and privacy rather than commercial interests.”
We don’t know if Epic will choose to bring Fortnite back to iOS consumers. It may depend on whether and where Apple updates its guidelines and other methods of payment.
