• News

Today's ruling means that Apple may never reinstate Epic Games' dev account

Barring Apple from prohibiting alternative payment methods was a win for Epic, but the Judge also ruled that Apple was right to remove Fortnite from iOS.

TJ Denzer

September 10, 2021 11:30 AM

3

A first glance at the ruling in the Epic Games v. Apple case and the permanent injunction that was filed with it may lead one to believe that Epic was entirely the big winner in the case today. However, there’s several parts of the ruling that don’t bode so well for Epic. Once such instance is the ruling that Apple’s removal of Fortnite from iOS and the App Store over purposeful violation of Apple’s terms of service was legal and lawful. This means we may not see Fortnite back on iOS or Epic Games’ dev account restored anytime soon.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers filed her ruling on the case of Epic Games v. Apple on September 10, 2021. A part of it found that while Apple is not considered monopolistic, it did engage in anti-competitive practices, and so faced a permanent injunction ordering the company be restrained from prohibiting external payment links and other alternative payment methods on apps in the App Store. However, the full ruling also judged that Apple had acted appropriately in its response to Epic Games’ use of the system on Fortnite.

The ruling relating to Apple’s previous actions against Epic Games and Fortnite on the App Store is as follows:

It’s true that Apple will find itself in a position where it will be unable to bar further iOS developers from implementing in-app alternatives and external links in their App Store apps without breaking the injunction. However, this particular ruling in regards to Epic means that Apple is not under pressure to restore Epic’s dev account status on the App Store. In fact, Apple is currently still able to limit Epic’s presence on the App Store to whatever degree it wants.

This is most assuredly not the end of the Epic Games v. Apple case, but it does mean we’re unlikely to see Fortnite back on iOS anytime soon. Stay tuned as we continue to follow this case for further details and updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.