Oliver Haslam·

Apple Won’t Let Fortnite Back Into The App Store Before The Court Verdict Is Final

Apple has told Epic Games that it will not allow Fortnite back into the App Store even if the company promises to behave itself. Fortnite was famously yanked from the App Store after Epic added a feature that bypassed Apple’s in-app purchase system.

That move saw Apple and Epic go to court over the way the former runs the App Store, with a decision on that case seeing Apple told that it can no longer prevent apps from linking out to alternative payment methods.

However, Apple was not told to allow Fortnite back into the App Store, although Apple did say that it would do so if Epic played by the rules.

Now, Epic appears to have told Apple that it will indeed do as it’s told, but that isn’t enough for Apple. Instead, it wants to keep Fortnite out of the App Store until Epic’s legal appeal is done and dusted.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney shared the email from Apple’s legal representatives on Twitter.

In light of this and other statements since the court’s decision, coupled with Epic’s duplicitous conduct in the past, Apple has exercised its discretion not to reinstate Epic’s developer program account at this time. Furthermore, Apple will not consider any further requests for reinstatement until the district court’s judgment becomes final and nonappealable.

To Sweeney, Apple is now reneging on a promise to allow Fortnite into the App Store, something it calls another “extraordinary anticompetitive move by Apple.”

At a time where Apple is under continued pressure from governments around the world in relation to how it deals with developers, this move seems an odd one indeed.

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