Epic Games is ramping up efforts to persuade Apple to allow Fortnite back into its App Store. In a new court filing, the company has requested that Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers mandate Apple to accept any compliant version of Fortnite on the U.S. App Store.
Epic and Apple have been locked in a prolonged legal struggle over App Store policies, especially the fees Apple charges on in-app purchases.
Last month, Epic won a significant victory when Judge Rogers ruled that Apple was in “willful violation” of an injunction related to anti-competitive pricing. This decision seemed to open the door for Fortnite’s potential return to the App Store and for developers to explore alternative payment methods in their apps.
Despite this, Apple plans to appeal the ruling. On Friday, Epic announced that Fortnite would be unavailable on both the U.S. App Store and the Epic Games store in Europe, stating that the game would remain offline on iOS globally until Apple unblocks it.
Apple, however, rejected this claim, especially the notion of blocking Fortnite outside the U.S. Instead, Apple requested Epic Sweden to resubmit an app update that excludes the U.S. storefront to avoid affecting the game in other regions.
As for the U.S. market, Epic shared a letter from attorney Mark A. Perry, representing Apple, indicating that Apple has decided not to take action on the Fortnite app submission until the Ninth Circuit rules on their pending request for a partial stay of the new injunction.
Epic contends that Apple is denying it the opportunity to benefit from the pro-competitive rules it helped bring about. The company believes Apple’s actions are a form of punishment for challenging its practices, serving as a warning to other developers.
