Epic Games has intensified its legal battle against Apple by requesting a court order that would compel the tech giant to accept a compliant version of its popular game, Fortnite, onto the U.S. App Store.
This action follows years of ongoing legal disputes between the two companies, centered primarily around Apple’s established App Store policies and its contentious commission system for in-app purchases.
The situation recently shifted significantly last month when Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found Apple to be in “willful violation” of a prior injunction targeting its anti-competitive pricing practices. The ruling appeared to clear the path for Fortnite’s potential return to the App Store, signaling broader implications for developers to offer alternative payment options in their apps.
However, Apple quickly announced plans to appeal this latest decision. According to Epic, Apple has subsequently acted to prevent Fortnite’s availability on the U.S. App Store, and has allegedly blocked the game’s release on Epic’s European storefront. Epic asserted publicly that Fortnite will remain unavailable worldwide on iOS until Apple decides to reverse this stance.
In response, Apple challenged Epic’s accusations, particularly denying claims related to blocking Fortnite internationally. Apple contended it had actually urged Epic’s European arm to resubmit the game’s update without inclusion of the U.S. store, allowing distribution in other global regions to continue normally.
Explaining why Fortnite remains inaccessible to U.S. users, Epic disclosed a letter from Apple’s lawyer, Mark A. Perry, stating that Apple would defer any action concerning Fortnite until the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reaches a decision regarding Apple’s request for a partial stay of Judge Rogers’ injunction.
In its most recent legal filing, Epic alleges that Apple is actively blocking it from benefiting from new, more competitive conditions that Epic itself helped usher in, punishing the company and effectively warning other developers about potential consequences of opposing Apple’s business model.
