Epic’s long-standing battle with Apple over Fortnite’s future on iOS devices has accused Apple of blocking Fortnite’s submissions, and accusing the game of failing to release it to the US app store.
Earlier this month, epic boss Tim Sweeney said Fortnite A few days after the important court decision, I’ll be back to the US iOS app store and iPhone.
On April 30th, the US District Court in California stated that Apple was told by Epic Gamesv. I discovered that I intentionally violated an Apple case. This allows Apple to offer customers an alternative way for developers to purchase outside the app.
January, Passthecontroller reported on how Sweeney spent billions of dollars on the fight against Apple and Google.. Sweeney told Passthecontroller at the time that he thought it was a long-term investment in the future of Epic and Fortnite, and insisted that the epic could continue fighting for decades to come.
The ongoing battle for Sweeney to get Fortnite back on IPHONE and Android phones is well documented, avoiding store fees. This is the GIST. Epic doesn’t want to pay the current standard 30% store fee for revenue made on mobile games. Instead, they want to run something like Fortnite through their own mobile store, The Epic Games Store, without Apple and Google getting in the way and making a profit. Back in 2020, the dispute ended with Fortnite, which blocked releases on iOS.
After Sweeney’s tweet, Fortnite was expected to return to iOS, but so far… nothing. And now, EPIC has issued a statement to Passthecontroller, which provides the update.
“Apple blocked Fortnite submissions, so it cannot be released to the US app store or to the European Union’s epic game store. Sadly, iOS Fortnite will be offline all over the world until Apple unblocks it.”
Based on this statement, not only is Fortnite blocked from the US app store, Fortnite on iOS is offline all over the world. It’s an epic situation, and has already lost billions of dollars in revenue in five years since Fortnite was kicked out of the iPhone. Now, Tim Sweeney is trying to change his mind by tweeting to Apple boss Tim Cook.
“Hello Tim. What if we let our mutual customers access Fortnite? Just think about it.”
Hello Tim. What if we let our mutual customers access Fortnite? Just a thought.
– Tim Sweenee (@timsweeneepic) May 15, 2025
After the court’s ruling, Apple was referred to federal prosecutors for violating a US court order. “Continued attempts to block Apple’s competition are not tolerated,” said U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. “This is an injunction, not negotiation. If the party knowingly ignores the court’s order, there is no solution.”
The judge introduced Apple and one of its executives, Alex Roman, vice president of finance, to federal prosecutors for a criminally contemptious investigation into their actions in the case. Roman testified about the measures Apple took to comply with her injunction “full of misdirection and complete lies,” the judge wrote.
In a statement issued at the time, Apple said: “We strongly oppose this decision. We will comply with the court’s order and appeal.” Last week, Apple asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to suspend its ruling in an epic game case.
Wesley is the UK news editor at Passthecontroller. Find him on @wyp100’s Twitter. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
