Apple puts Fortnite App Store reinstatement on hold

Apple won’t consider reinstating Fortnite on its App Store until court proceedings with Epic Games are exhausted

Fortnite players will have to wait a while longer to play the popular battle royale game on their iOs devices, as Apple’s legal battle with Fortnite-creator Epic Games continues. 

Apple has said it will not grant Epic Games a developer program account needed for it to offer its games on Apple’s App Store database, according to a letter tweeted out by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney.  

Apple said in its letter that it has “exercised its discretion not to reinstate Epic’s developer program account at this time,” and that it “will not consider any requests for reinstatement until the district court’s judgment becomes final and non-appealable.” 

Apple and Epic Games have been battling it out in court in recent months over rules implemented by Apple’s App Store. Sweeney noted in his tweet that the process of exhausting all of the current court appeals could take as long as five years. 

The issue began when Apple kicked Fornite off of its App Store back in August for allegedly skirting its guidelines by giving users alternative payment options. Epic Games filed a lawsuit in response, reports CNN Business. 

A judge ruled recently that Apple can no longer stop developers from allowing users to pay outside of the App Store, although the judge did not go so far as to accuse Apple of being a monopoly and said it was within its rights to remove Fortnite from its service, reports CNN Business. 

“With over 30 million registered iOS developers, it is not particularly surprising, or necessarily nefarious, that Apple does not negotiate terms generally,” the judge wrote, reports CNN Business.

Epic has argued that Apple’s conduct makes it a monopoly because it is withholding the company from access to hundreds of millions of iPhone users. 

Sweeney shot off a slew of angry tweets following Apple declaring its intention to put any reinstatement on hold until the appeals process was finalized. 

“Apple lied,” he tweeted. “Epic agreed, and now Apple has reneged in another abuse of its monopoly power over a billion users.”