Fortnite

Apple’s years-long App Store fight with Fortnite maker Epic Games is now headed to the Supreme Court. The justices agreed on Tuesday to hear Apple’s appeal of a contempt ruling that has already forced it to change how it handles payments outside the App Store. And the stakes just got a lot higher.

If you’ve purchased anything through an iPhone app recently, this affects you more than you’d think. At stake is whether Apple can keep charging app developers a commission on payments made outside the App Store, and that fee trickles down to what you pay for subscriptions and in-app purchases.

Fortnite returned to the App Store in almost all regions, ending its years-long absence that began when Epic Games sued Apple over in-app purchases.

The battle royale’s comeback is real, but Epic Games’ claim that it has already won isn’t completely true. Epic Games brought back Fortnite to the App Store on Tuesday, following the game’s U.S. return last year. But there’s an exception — Australia — and the legal fight that made this possible is nowhere near finished.

Fortnite can once again be installed on iPhones and iPads in the United States, developer Epic Games announced triumphantly on Tuesday. The very popular game is back in the U.S. App Store.

The change comes almost five years after Apple banned the battle royale game in a spat with Epic over in-app payments.

UPDATE: Fortnite returned to the U.S. App Store on May 20.

Epic Games’ hope to get Fortnite reinstated on the U.S. iPhone App Store crashed and burned.  Apple used a letter from one of its lawyers to deny the attempt to let iPhone users in the United States install and play the popular game. This is the latest clash in a long-running dispute between the two companies.

Epic claimed Friday that Apple had also blocked Fortnite in Europe, which Apple denies.

Epic Games recently promised to resubmit the hugely popular game Fortnite to the U.S. App Store, and it carried through with the promise Friday. It’s now up to Apple whether the application will be approved.

The move came after a U.S. judge blasted Apple for willfully violating the court’s 2021 order, and ordered Apple to comply with earlier App Store changes effective immediately. These are changes that Epic fought for, and relate to Apple policies that got Fortnite banned in the first place.

Apple banned Epic Games’ developer account in 2020. Yet, the latter’s CEO, Tim Sweeney, confirmed last week that Fortnite will return to the U.S. App Store after a judge blasted Apple for not complying with the court’s order.

Wondering how? Sweeney revealed the secret, saying Epic Games will use their EU account.

The Epic Games Store launched Friday, allowing iPhone users to install the popular Fortnite for the first time since Apple kicked Epic out of the official App Store in 2020.

But there’s an important caveat: the new iOS app marketplace is available only in the European Union.

Epic Games will make its highly popular game Fortnite and other titles available via AltStore PAL, the first app marketplace for iPhone to open in the European Union. The game developer is also continuing to work on its own iOS app marketplace, because it’s banned from Apple’s App Store.

So the days of playing Fortnite on iPhone will be back soon … but only for those who live in the right region.

Epic Games will not be able to bring Fortnite back to the European Union. Apple canceled the company’s developer account (again) and called Epic “verifiably untrustworthy.”

Shutting down the developer account also means that the game-maker won’t be able to open its promised rival to the App Store.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request by Epic Games that would have required Apple to immediately get rid of its “anti-steering” rule for third-party applications — a major change. Instead, the Mac-maker can wait until there’s a final decision by the high court.

This means Apple doesn’t have to change its policy that prevents developers from sending customers from their applications to their websites to pay for subscriptions or services … yet.

The CEO of Epic Games teased Fortnite fans that the game will once again be playable on iPhone in 2023.

That would be quite a turnaround, as Apple blocked Epic from the App Store back in 2020 during a lengthy court battle. But new EU regulations likely will allow the game developer to do an end run around the block.

Fortnite got kicked out of the App Store as part of a legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, but you can play it on your iPhone today for free. Microsoft added it to Xbox Cloud Gaming so the combat game is playable on iOS and iPadOS devices.

Setting up your iPhone or iPad to play Fortnite from the cloud rather than the App Store is different from what you’re used to. Not hard, just different. I’ll walk you through it.

It would appear that large sections of the developer community are firmly behind Epic Games in its battle for a fairer, more open App Store. But not Roblox, which believes Apple’s strict controls enhance safety and security.

The online game platform, which calls itself a metaverse company and boasts almost 55 million daily active users, said in a legal filing this week that the App Store review process adds “greater legitimacy in the eyes of users.”

The Department of Justice, 35 U.S. states, and Microsoft have all backed Fortnite developer Epic Games in its fight against the App Store.

Briefs filed by Epic’s supporters with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit say last year’s ruling — which said the App Store was not a monopoly — is wrong. They also claim Apple is stifling competition.

Fortnite is returning to iPhone and iPad — but you won’t find it in the App Store. Starting next week, the hit battle royale game will be available to stream through Nvidia’s GeForce now, complete with brand-new touch controls.

Players will initially have to sign up to join the closed beta, which requires an active GeForce Now membership, designed to help Nvidia test server capacity and performance. But Fortnite eventually will roll out to all GeForce Now subscribers.

The move is somewhat of a kick in the teeth for Apple, which has been determined to block Fortnite on its own platforms since it booted Epic Games, the game’s creator, from the App Store for breaking the rules.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney renewed his attack on the App Store, telling a conference in South Korea that “Apple must be stopped.”

Sweeney, who spoke Tuesday at the Global Conference for Mobile Application Ecosystem Fairness, accused Apple of complying with “oppressive foreign laws.” He also called for “a single store that works with all platforms.”

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Apple to add third-party payment options to the App Store by December 9, after denying the company’s motion for a stay in Fortnite developer Epic Games’ case against Cupertino.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said the motion, which argued that Apple needed time to implement the changes, was based on “a selective reading of the Court’s findings” and “ignores everything” in favor of an injunction.

The first phase of the legal war between Apple and Epic Games is over, and a Federal court agreed with the game developer in some of the major points in their lawsuit. But Apple refuses to reinstate Fortnite and other Epic titles to its App Store during the appeals process.

The iPhone maker says this is the result of “Epic’s duplicitous conduct” leading to the lawsuit.

Epic Games on Monday confirmed it has paid the $6 million it owed to Apple in royalties just days after it was ordered by the court. The fee covers Apple’s cut for in-game revenues collected between August 2020 and October 2020 when Epic allowed Fortnite players on iPhone and iPad to make direct purchases.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney also said that the company has asked Apple to restore its developer account.

You might think Fortnite creator Epic Games would be pretty ecstatic with the recent ruling that says Apple must allow developers to offer third-party payment methods inside their iOS apps. But that’s not the case.

Epic has expressed its dissatisfaction with the outcome in recent days, and has now confirmed it has filed a notice of appeal against the decision. It seems the company has no plans to bring Fortnite back to iOS just yet.

Epic Games has asked Apple to reinstate its developer account so that it can bring Fortnite back to iPhone and iPad in Korea, where a new bill could allow it to offer its own payment system alongside Apple’s for in-app purchases.

But unfortunately for Fortnite fans, Apple isn’t having any of it. Cupertino said in a statement to Cult of Mac that it will only allow Epic to return to the App Store when it agrees “to play by the same rules as everyone else.”

Update: A U.S. judge made her ruling in the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit on Friday, and is requiring Apple to allow  developers like Epic Games to set up their own direct-payment systems. This could bring Fortnite back to the App Store.

As the Epic Games v. Apple trial winds down, Apple CEO Tim Cook took to the witness stand Friday to deliver a big fat nothingburger.

Trial watchers were hoping Cook would deliver dramatic and explosive testimony, but he mostly dodged, demurred or couldn’t remember.

You don’t get bigger witnesses when it comes to an Apple trial than Tim Cook. Cook, the 10-year CEO of Apple, will today take the stand in the ongoing court case pitting Apple against Fortnite maker Epic.

With the trial expected to end Monday, Cook’s Friday testimony will be a “One more thing” event as Apple’s lawyers attempt to dismantle Epic’s case (and vice versa on the part of Epic’s legal team).

Epic Games suggested a change to the iPhone App Store that, if Apple had followed it, might have prevented the lawsuit that landed the two tech giants in court this week.

The game developer recommended that Apple continue to police third-party software, looking for malware, privacy violations, etc. But once the iPhone-maker signed off on an app, it would be up to the developer how the software got distributed.

Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple is less about App Store rules and more about reviving “flagging interest in Fortnite,” according to a court document filed Thursday by Cupertino’s lawyers.

In a court filing with the US District Court on Thursday, Apple argues that Epic just wants “to free-ride on Apple’s innovation” by being allowed in the App Store without having to pay Apple a cut of earnings.