iPhone owners won’t be playing Fortnite on their devices anytime soon. In fact, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny says that the game might not return to the App Store for at least five years. This being after Apple and Epic Games went head to head in a court battle when the Fortnite maker implemented its own direct payment system and blatantly broke Apple’s Terms of Use. Apple then removed the game from the App Store and banned Epic Games from hosting any apps on the platform.
In a new blog post/tweets by Epic Games, the company publically shared Apple’s response to the recent court rulings. According to Apple, the company won’t reinstate Fortnite, or any other apps Epic Games want to list on the App Store until all the appeals have been resolved in court. This process could take years to complete.
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This move arrives shortly after Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Epic broke Apple’s contract and the company was in its rights to terminate Epic’s developer account. The blog post reads:
“Apple has exercised its discretion not to reinstate Epic’s developer program account at this time. Furthermore, Apple will not consider any further requests for reinstatement until the district court’s judgment becomes final and non-appealable.
Epic Games has already paid Apple for the financial damages it caused by breaching the Terms of Use. However, the company also appealed this judicial decision and the higher court has not decided whether or not they will hear the case. While Apple has not appealed the case either, the company is still deciding if it will do so. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently told staff that he was “looking forward to moving forward” after the ruling.
Epic Games has also accused Apple of lying saying that the company spent a year telling the world, the court and the press they’d welcome Epic’s return back to the App Store if they agreed to play by the same rules as everyone else. Epic further went on to say that Apple is abusing its monopoly power over a billion users.
Tim Sweeney hasn’t shied away from sharing Apple’s tweets to the public. This being after the company attempted to get Fortnite back on the App Store by remotely removing V-Bucks from older copies of the game. This put the free-to-play battle royale back in compliance with Apple’s Terms of Use. However, Epic Games still doesn’t have a working developer account so the company could not publish the game.
Apple has declined to comment on Sweeney’s tweets.
Just last week, Epic agreed with Apple that we would play by the same rules as everyone else. pic.twitter.com/WOxsbnAFXE
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 22, 2021
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