After its release in 2017, Fortnite continued to ride the hype train for years to come, attaining a legendary status among the masses. It was thus unfortunate when Epic Games took up a massive legal battle against Apple in 2020, which barred millions of players from accessing the game freely on their devices.
To this day, Fortnite is not available on the App Store, but what happened exactly?
Epic Games vs Apple – Battle of the giants still rages on
Apple lied. Apple spent a year telling the world, the court, and the press they’d "welcome Epic’s return to the App Store if they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else". Epic agreed, and now Apple has reneged in another abuse of its monopoly power over a billion users.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 22, 2021
The Epic Games-Apple legal dispute, ongoing since August 2020, has had ups and downs for both companies involved. But, to really understand the situation, we need to go back in time to when Epic Games rebelled against what they alleged were antitrust and monopolistic practices by Apple.
Epic Games’ founder and CEO Tim Sweeney has always been against the 30% revenue cut demanded by digital storefronts. In mid-2020, after Fortnite was made accessible to mobile devices via the App Store and Google Play, Sweeney criticized these revenue-sharing tactics when the United States Congressional began investigating antitrust charges against Big Tech companies.
Tipping point
Matters came to a head in August 2020 when Epic introduced a hotfix allowing players to purchase V-Bucks, the Fortnite currency, directly in-game at a discounted price, thus circumventing the revenue laws. Both Apple and Google removed the game from their respective storefronts within a few hours, giving Epic grounds to file separate lawsuits against them for antitrust and anticompetitive behavior.
On Twitter, Sweeney launched a #FreeFortnite campaign and asserted that the lawsuit went beyond monetary concerns.
At the most basic level, we’re fighting for the freedom of people who bought smartphones to install apps from sources of their choosing, the freedom for creators of apps to distribute them as they choose, and the freedom of both groups to do business directly.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) August 14, 2020
Epic also released a parody of Apple’s famous 1984 ad targeting IBM, implying that it had gone on to become the new Big Brother in tech.
Epic Games is trolling Apple with a "1984" Fortnite video. It's pretty… epic pic.twitter.com/4a8DJfJa5b
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) August 13, 2020
Preliminary injunction and a countersuit
Epic Games was shocked when Apple, in retaliation, decided to terminate its access to developer tools for the App Store as well as for iOS and MacOS. Epic immediately filed for a preliminary injunction requesting the prevention of the same and that Apple not be allowed to delist the game from the store.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the US District Court for the Northern District of California overruled the latter. However, she let Epic retain access to its developer accounts since it supports the Unreal Engine, a highly-advanced graphics-centric engine that supports several other games. Many developers using the Unreal Engine would have suffered otherwise despite not being a part of the Epic-Apple lawsuit.
Apple’s countersuit against Epic, filed in September 2020, sought monetary damages on the grounds that Epic had breached its terms and conditions deliberately.
What was the verdict?
Judge Gonzalez Rogers gave her verdict on September 10, 2021, ruling in favor of Apple on nine out of ten counts. Epic’s small victory was that Apple could no longer prevent developers from adding links within their apps to third-party payment alternatives. Alas, it came at the cost of millions of dollars in fines, that is 30% of the total revenue that the Fortnite company denied Apple between August and October 2020 and thereafter in its efforts to bypass the terms of the App Store.
Today’s ruling isn't a win for developers or for consumers. Epic is fighting for fair competition among in-app payment methods and app stores for a billion consumers. https://t.co/cGTBxThnsP
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 10, 2021
Sweeney was understandably perturbed, and Epic filed for an appeal soon after. The CEO also informed the Fortnite community on Twitter that Apple is unwilling to let the game back onto the App Store until the lawsuit is fully wrapped up, which could take a minimum of five years. Fast forward to October 2021, Apple filed an appeal as well despite the verdict mostly going its way.
Recent developments
The two companies went back to court before the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in November 2022. This time, Apple aimed to overturn the order that now lets developers inform users about the possibility and process of making in-app purchases directly. Naturally, Epic challenged the conclusion that Apple did not violate any antitrust laws.
Epic Games is clearly adamant about not paying the “Apple tax,” and it has received support from many major companies in this fight.
Can you play Fortnite if you are an Apple user?
It will be a while before Fortnite becomes available on Apple’s App Store again. But, as it often happens with tech, workarounds allowing Apple owners to play an updated version of the game have emerged.
Fortnite is currently playable on iOS devices via the Safari web browser with the help of Nvidia’s GeForce Now streaming service. Epic Games also collaborated with Nvidia to create a specific version of the game for mobile devices that provides more tactile ease.
Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming, another popular cloud-based gaming service, lets Apple device owners play Fortnite as well. However, it is only accessible to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
Next year on iOS!
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) December 31, 2022
Interestingly, Sweeney recently hinted at the return of the game to iOS in 2023. In a cryptic tweet celebrating the new year, he said: “Next year on iOS!” Reportedly, Apple may soon allow sideloading as well as alternative app stores in compliance with the DMA (Digital Markets Act) law in Europe. In that case, Epic would be able to restore the game successfully to iOS but not the App Store.