Despite a court-mandated kiss-and-make-up between Apple and Epic, it seems like the two aren’t totally ready to reconcile their beef just yet. After its original application to bring Fortnite back to the App Store was ignored for over five days, the follow up submission has been blocked, leaving the iOS version of the battle royale “offline worldwide”.
In case you’re not up to date with the lengthy spat between the two mega corporations—seriously, it’s been five years now—here’s a quick rundown:
- Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has been criticising Apple’s 30% revenue cut since all the way back in 2015, among other storefronts like Steam and Google Play.
- In 2020, Epic cheekily snuck in some code in a patch for its iOS version of Fortnite which allowed players to make purchases outside of Apple’s payment system, bypassing the 30% revenue cut and offering a 20% discount on V-bucks.
- Apple retaliated by booting Fortnite off the App Store, as the move violated its TOS.
- Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple for “anti-competitive restraints and monopolistic practices” in the way it distributes software and processes payments.
- Apple counter-sued, saying the Epic suit was “Nothing more than a basic disagreement over money”.
- The brawl went to court in 2021, and a lot of petty back-and-forth ensued. Like, a lot.
- The court mostly sided with Apple, but did say it was unfair for the corporation to prevent app makers from presenting their own prices and payment processing—essentially meaning Apple would have to change its policies.
- Apple—unhappy about that decision—took things to the Supreme Court in 2023 to appeal the ruling.
- Epic was able to bring Fortnite back to iOS in 2024… at least in the European Union, and with a slightly convoluted installation method.
- The US court gave Apple a spanking in April 2025 for violating a 2021 injunction and lying under oath, and said it was to “not impede competition.”
- Tim Sweeney promised that Fortnite would return to the US iOS App Store in May. Except, er, Apple isn’t letting that happen.
I’m sorry, I said it was a quick rundown. I lied to both myself and to you. It’s been a long half-decade squabble, okay?
So here we are now: Fortnite’s mid-season patch got delayed to try and align it with the return of the game’s American App Store version. Unfortunately, it seems like Apple doesn’t want to play nice.
The Fortnite X account posted: “Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the US App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union. Now, sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it.”
To nobody’s surprise, Tim Sweeney has very much been Posting Through It. Taking to X, the CEO wrote: “Apple’s App Review team should be free to review all submitted apps promptly and accept or reject according to the plain language of their guidelines. App Review shouldn’t be weaponized by senior management as a tool to delay or obstruct competition, due process, or free speech.” He also retweeted a post which read “Apple continues to mock the court,” and has been poking fun at Apple for allowing adware spoofs of Fortnite to appear on the App Store while the real game continues to be locked out.
It’s wild to see that the EU version has straight up vanished now, too, with the Epic Games Store mobile launcher showing Fortnite as “app not available”. It’s unclear what the next step is for both Epic and Apple, though if things continue at this rate I wouldn’t be surprised if an adult (court) needs to step in once again to give both sides a telling off.
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