Fortnite unplayable on iOS across the world following Apple move
Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inboxSign up to our free IndyTech newsletterSign up to our free IndyTech newsletterFortnite is no longer available on Apple's iOS devices globally, the game's developer announced Friday, blaming Apple for blocking its attempt to release the popular video game for iPhone users in the US and Europe."Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the US App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union," Fortnite, which is owned by Epic Games, posted on X (formerly Twitter). The company claims this action effectively prevents the game from being available on iOS devices worldwide. "Sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it," the post continued.Apple, however, offered a different perspective in a statement to The Associated Press. The tech giant said it had requested Epic Sweden resubmit the app update "without including the US storefront of the App Store so as not to impact Fortnite in other geographies." Apple maintains it "did not take any action to remove the live version of Fortnite from alternative distribution marketplaces."Sabrina Carpenter recently joined Fortnite as a playable avatar (Epic Games/PA)Fortnite's exile from the iPhone app store is the latest twist in a years-long feud between Apple and Epic. Back in 2020, the video game maker filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple in the US, alleging the technology trendsetter was illegally using its power to gouge game makers.After a monthlong trial in 2021, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled against most of Epic’s claims, but ordered Apple to loosen its previously-exclusive control over the payments made for in-app commerce and allow links to alternative options in the US for the first time — threatening to undercut sizeable commissions that Apple had been collecting from in-app transactions for over a decade.After exhausting an appeal that went all the way to the US Supreme Court, Apple last year introduced a new system that opened the door for links to alternative payment options while still imposing a 27 per cent commission on in-app transactions executed outside its own system.Epic fired back by alleging Apple was thumbing its nose at the legal system, reviving another round of court hearings that lasted nearly a year before Gonzalez Rogers delivered a stinging rebuke last month — which held Apple in civil contempt and banned the company from collecting any commission on alternative payment systems.That ruling cleared the way for Epic to finally return to the iPhone app store in the US, a reinstatement the video game maker was anticipating before Apple’s latest move.Fortnite's availability in the EU, meanwhile, was set to go in an alternative store for iPhone users — now called the Epic Games Store. Apple last year cleared the way for this last year under new regulatory pressures.
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