Apple and Epic Games are once again publicly feuding — this time over who’s to blame for why Fortnite is unavailable on the App Store.
On Friday, Epic Games accused Apple of blocking Fortnite‘s return to the App Store after lengthy battles resulted in the game being set to launch on iOS in Europe through the Epic Games Store app and on the App Store directly in the U.S.
“Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the U.S. App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union,” Epic posted on its official Fortnite X (Twitter) account. “Now, sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it.”
While the game has indeed not been available on any platform worldwide as of today, Apple quickly denied being responsible for this.
“We asked that Epic Sweden resubmit the app update without including the U.S. storefront of the App Store so as not to impact Fortnite in other geographies,” an Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg. “We did not take any action to remove the live version of Fortnite from alternative distribution marketplaces.”
Therefore, it’s unclear exactly who’s to blame here. What we do know is that both companies have been fighting each other in the courts for years. In August 2020, Epic introduced its own payment system within Fortnite on iOS, causing Apple to remove the game for violating its App Store policies regarding third-party purchasing methods. Epic then sued Apple in an effort to open up the App Store to these kinds of third-party sales, arguing that Apple’s 30 per cent cut is unfair to developers.
Ultimately, Apple was ordered to allow these third-party purchasing methods. On top of that, regulatory changes ushered in by the EU’s Digital Markets Act forced Apple to allow alternate app stores. This paved the way for Fortnite to return to iOS in the EU, albeit through the Epic Games Store app. On top of that, Epic had just resubmitted Fortnite to the U.S. App Store in April following a recent ruling in Epic’s lawsuit against Apple.
It remains to be seen if and when Fortnite will return to these Apple platforms.
Image credit: Epic Games
Via: The Verge
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