Last week, Epic Games announced that it had submitted Fortnite to the App Store in the United States.The move followed an injunction in which a federal judge said Apple couldn’t charge a 27% commission on out-of-app purchases initiated through in-app links.In a new statement today, however, Epic says that Apple has “blocked” this submission… In a statement posted on social media, Epic Games said: There’s no word on why Apple rejected Epic’s Fortnite submission.
It’s also unclear why the game is no longer available via the Epic Games Store in the EU.Before today, Fortnite had been available to download for iPhone users in the EU through Epic’s alternative app marketplace as well as AltStore PAL.The version of Fortnite submitted by Epic used both Apple’s In-App Purchase system as well as an external payment option through the Epic Games Store.
Fortnite has been unavailable through the App Store since 2020 when it added a backdoor payment option to circumvent Apple’s App Store Guidelines.Epic is trying to use its EU developer account to bring Fortnite back to the App Store after Apple terminated its original U.S.account.
In the legal battle between Apple and Epic, a judge ruled that Apple was lawful in its decision to terminate Epic’s developer account for deliberately breaking App Store Guidelines when it added the Fortnite direct payment option.As such, Apple has no legal obligation to allow Fortnite back in the App Store.In 2021, the ruling concluded: We’ll keep this story updated as the situation continues to evolve.
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