'Fortnite' is offline on iOS around the world

After winning a court case pretty decisively against Apple, developer Epic submitted Fortnite to the US App Store and suggested it would soon be back on iOS. However, according to the Fortnite team, Apple has blocked the game on both the US App Store and the EU's iOS version of its own Epic Games Store.

Fortnite had been available on iPhones in Europe since August last year due to EU rules that allow third-party iOS stores.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney suggested that Apple didn't have any particular reason to refuse the application. "Apple’s App Review team should be free to review all submitted apps promptly and accept or reject according to the plain language of their guidelines," he tweeted. "App Review shouldn’t be weaponized by senior management as a tool to delay or obstruct competition, due process, or free speech." Apple has yet to comment on the matter. 

To recap: this entire kerfuffle between Apple and Epic has been over, essentially, rent-seeking, and who gets to profit from it. Apple thinks it should keep getting a cut of sales through its App Store; Epic, naturally, would like to keep lining its own pockets. This fight initially opened up the option for developers to use third-party app stores for iOS apps, though a portion of their sales were still flowing back to Apple's coffers. The most recent court ruling attempted to close that apparent loophole.

The latest Fortnite version submitted by Epic included payment systems for Apple along with external payment via Epic's own store. Fortnite was originally banned from the App Store in 2020 after it submitted a version that included an external payment system that violated Apple's rules at the time — a decision subsequently backed by a court decision in 2021. To that end, Apple may not be legally obligated to reinstate Epic, despite the fact that the rule originally broken by the developer no longer existed.

This fight is, of course, ongoing. Apple appealed the most recent ruling and asked the court to halt App Store changes until a final decision is made.

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