From CNET: It appears Fortnite won't be headed back to iPhones and iPads anytime soon. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney on Wednesday said Apple told the game maker that Fortnite won't be allowed on Apple devices until the court appeals process is final, which could take years.
"Late last night, Apple informed Epic that Fortnite will be blacklisted from the Apple ecosystem until the exhaustion of all court appeals, which could be as long as a 5-year process," wrote Sweeney in a tweet, along with an image of what appears to be a letter from Apple's lawyers.
A year-long battle between Apple and Epic over how the App Store operates came to a head earlier this month when a federal judge issued a ruling that largely sided with the iPhone maker. The judge dismissed most of the claims against Apple, but she forced the company to allow developers to inform users of alternative ways to pay within apps. Epic filed a notice of appeal on Sept. 12.
The fight began back in August 2020 when Fortnite was kicked off both the App Store and the Google Play Store after attempting to bypass the 30% fee Apple and Google charge developers. At the time, the popular battle royale game had been downloaded over 250 million times on iOS alone.
View: Full Article
