What you need to know
- Apple has revealed why Fortnite isn't coming back to the App Store anytime soon.
- It made the revelation in its appeal against the Epic Games ruling filed on Friday.
- The company said it is clear Epic has "no intention of complying with Apple's Guidelines."
Apple has filed an appeal against the ruling in the Epic Games trial, in the process confirming why it won't let Fortnite back on the App Store or restore Epic's developer account.
Apple has filed an appeal against the ruling and asked for a stay of the injunction that would stop it from prohibiting developers linking to external payment methods. In the course of the appeal, Apple said that the court should stay the injunction for a number of reasons including the fact that Epic Games no longer has a developer program account with Apple or any live apps on the App Store.
Apple rejected Epic's request to bring Fortnite back to the App Store in September stating it would not reinstate the account until the legal battle had run its full course. On Friday, Apple told the court:
Following the Court's decision, Mr. Sweeney stated publicly that "Fortnite will return to the iOS App Store when and where Epic can offer in-app payment in fair competition with Apple in-app payment, passing along the savings to the consumer. He continued: "Thinking much more about whether we're going to live in a world where two platform megacorps dictate software and world commerce to everyone or whether the digital world and the future metaverse will be a free world. Wouldn't trade that away to get Fortnite back on iOS."
Apple stated that based on "these and other statements" it was "clear that Epic has no intention of complying with Apple's Guidelines notwithstanding any protestations to the contrary" and as such it has advised Epic that it would not be restoring its developer or account or reinstating Fortnite to the App Store. At the time of the rejection, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney had expressed his indignance at Apple's decision and asked "What 'statements' are we talking about here?"
