Apple won’t release Fortnite in the US until the court rules on its request for a delay to the injunction that cracked open the US App Store.
In response, Epic has filed a motion to enforce the injunction, and claims halting Fortnite’s release is “blatant retaliation against Epic for challenging Apple’s anticompetitive behavior and exposing its lies to the Court”.
The latest twist in Epic vs Apple was revealed by Epic last night as it continues to tussle with Apple over App Store guidelines.
Apple’s lawyers sent a letter to Epic explaining why it has not approved Fortnite for release in the US, which Epic has now published here. In short, Apple says in the letter that it won’t release Fortnite on the US App Store until the court rules on its request for a partial delay to the injunction, as reported here.
Epic also filed its own motion to enforce the injunction set down by judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers that lifts Apple’s anti-steering measures and allows developers to offer alternative payments in-app.
There are several fiery passages in the motion, including the claim that Apple’s delaying of Fortnite’s release is “blatant retaliation against Epic for challenging Apple’s anticompetitive behavior and exposing its lies to the Court”.
Epic continues: “To allow Apple to reject Epic’s app because Epic availed itself of this Court’s Injunction or initiated proceedings to enforce it would completely negate the Injunction.”
And later, Epic adds: “Apple’s refusal to consider Epic’s Fortnite submission is Apple’s latest attempt to circumvent this Court’s Injunction and this Court’s authority.”
Apple also asked Epic to submit a separate, US-only edition of Fortnite under a different account “to prevent our discussions surrounding the U.S. storefront of the App Store from impacting Fortnite in other geographies”. But as Epic states in its response, this appears to go against Apple’s own developer guidelines stating that apps and games should avoid submitting multiple versions of the same app.
As it stands, Fortnite is still unavailable on iOS in alternative stores, too. Epic claims this is Apple’s fault, but Apple denies it is responsible.
