You Still Can’t Download Fortnite From the iOS App Store

After greater than a yr of authorized sniping between Apple and Epic Games, it appeared issues tipped within the favor of the latter when a federal choose earlier this month issued a everlasting injunction permitting iOS builders to direct customers to third-party cost portals. But at this time Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney mentioned Apple knowledgeable the corporate that Fortnite will probably be blacklisted “until the exhaustion of all court appeals.”

“Apple lied,” Sweeney wrote on Twitter. “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.”

Sweeney then went on to incorporate screencaps of an e mail he despatched to Phil Schiller, who heads up the App Store and Apple Events. The e mail is dated Sept. 16, 2021, and in it, Sweeney notes that Apple has disabled funds server-side and paid Apple $6 million as ordered by the courtroom. He additionally notes that Epic has requested Apple to reactivate its Fortnite improvement account—which Apple terminated final yr—and warranted Schiller that the corporate would adhere to Apple tips.

“Epic will resubmit Fortnite to the App Store if you adhere to the plain language of the court order and allow apps to include buttons and external links that direct customers to other purchasing mechanisms without onerous terms or impediments to a good user experience,” Sweeney wrote in the email, referring to the injunction issued earlier this month.

Sweeney then posted one more screencap of a letter from Apple’s authorized workforce. In it, Apple notes that Epic’s developer account had been terminated “for cause” as a consequence of an “intentional breach of contract.” It goes on to cite Sweeney’s earlier public statements saying Epic wouldn’t commerce different funds simply to get Fortnite again on the App Store.

“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,” the letter reads. “Furthermore, Apple will not consider any further requests for reinstatement until the district court’s judgment becomes final and nonappealable.”

Clearly, there’s no love lost between the two companies. This additionally isn’t the primary time Epic has tried to get Fortnite reinstated. Last yr, it requested the courtroom to place Fortnite again within the App Store whereas its authorized battles with Apple had been ongoing. That didn’t finish out nicely for Epic, because the courtroom discovered Apple’s choice to nix the account was “valid, lawful, and enforceable.”

To be honest, at no level within the courtroom’s injunction did it say that Apple had to reinstate the Fortnite app. In his e mail to Schiller, Sweeney additionally mentioned: “Whether Epic chooses to bring Fortnite back to iOS consumers depends on whether and where Apple updates its guidelines to provide for a level playing field between Apple In-App Purchase and other methods of payment.” That line, in addition to the Apple authorized workforce’s point out of “duplicitous conduct in the past,” is maybe a sign that the corporate is cautious of Epic’s tendency for showmanship ought to it let Fortnite again into the App Store.

TL;DR—Don’t anticipate Fortnite to return to the iOS App Store, or any a part of the Apple ecosystem, anytime quickly, or at the very least not till the whole authorized course of has been accomplished. According to Sweeney, that might take so long as 5 years. Gizmodo reached out to Apple for touch upon the matter and we’ll replace this story if they supply an official assertion.