Our long national nightmare is over: Fortnite is finally back on the Apple App Store.
We’ve been following this story since it punched up the doldrums of 2020, when Epic Games challenged Apple’s blockade of apps that use payment systems that don’t run through Apple (and therefore don’t enrich Apple with its cut of profits). The ensuing legal battle wound its way through the U.S. court system for the past several years, resulting in a 2021 legal decision that secured a permanent injunction against Apple that ensured third-party purchasing options couldn’t be blocked, reinforced when the Supreme Court tossed Apple’s remaining appeals. But of course, it didn’t end there because Apple decided to try to circumvent the ruling, landing it back in court. The judge was not amused and read Apple the riot act, and now we’ve been waiting as Apple engaged in even more blatant stalling tactics in spite of Epic’s call for a truce.
Through it all, Fortnite has been inaccessible on U.S. Apple devices; the stalling even meant last week’s patch was delayed. But finally, as of last night, the game is back, just ahead of the game’s eighth birthday and just in time to stomp on the story about Epic Games shoving an AI version of Darth Vader into the game without proper safeguards.
“Fortnite is BACK on the App Store in the U.S. on iPhones and iPads,” the Fortnite Twitter account announced, “and on the Epic Games Store and AltStore in the E.U! It’ll show up in Search soon!” Indeed, it’s easily findable on the App Store now, though players in some countries – Canada and South Africa among them – are apparently still in limbo. Predictably, it’s also rocketed to the top of the free games, action games, and adventure games categories in the U.S.
Before you start thinking that Apple had a genuine change of heart, the New York Times reports that it was the judge’s ultimatum earlier this week that forced the deal.
Here's some of our more recent coverage of the Epic/Apple/Google feud: • Apple’s legal intransigence forces Fortnite off the appstore globally as Epic Games again asks the courts to intervene • Apple’s apparent stalling forces Epic Games to delay a Fortnite patch as its App Store submission dangles • Fortnite’s return to the Apple App Store will happen via Epic Games’ Swedish account • ‘This is an injunction, not a negotiation’: Apple’s antics secure a fresh court victory for Epic Games • Epic Games claims to be ‘financially sound’ with new concurrency records for Fortnite and EGS • MMO Business Roundup: Jagex dinged by UK government, Roblox AI tools, and Epic v Apple plods on There's gobs more - you can go back and read 'em all from the beginning! Source: Twitter“On Monday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers called on Apple to reinstate Fortnite to the App Store or return to court to prove it had a legal basis for not doing so. The next day, Fortnite was back on iPhones and iPads in the United States, and Epic and Apple signed a joint statement to the court saying they had resolved that particular dispute.”
