Epic and Fortnite blacklisted from Apple platforms until court verdicts are 'final & unappealable'
Apple will seemingly exercise its ability to bar Epic Games and Fortnite from its platforms until the court case between the two companies is fully settled.
When the dust settled on the first stage of court proceedings in the lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple, Apple found itself hit with an injunction that would bar it from punishing developers for including or linking to alternative payment methods on its platform. Meanwhile, Epic Games took a hit in the verdict for the way in which it used Fortnite to goad Apple into the lawsuit. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers determined that Apple was legal in its decision to bar Fortnite and Epic Games from its platform ecosystem, a decision Apple will take advantage of until the court battle is completely over.
Apple announced this decision in a letter to Epic Games and its CEO Tim Sweeney, shared via Sweeney’s Twitter on September 22, 2021. According to the letter, sent in response to Epic’s appeal for a reinstatement of its developer account on Apple platforms, Apple will continue to blacklist Epic Games and Fortnite from the apple ecosystem until court proceedings between the two companies are final and unappealable.
Late last night, Apple informed Epic that Fortnite will be blacklisted from the Apple ecosystem until the exhaustion of all court appeals, which could be as long as a 5-year process. pic.twitter.com/QCD7wogJef
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 22, 2021
The decision could have been seen from a mile away after that particular point of Judge Gonzales Rogers’ verdict on September 10, 2021. While Epic Games has already begun the process of appeal over further ruling that Apple had not acted monopolistically (though it was decided the company acted anti-competitively), Epic Games will be forced to comply with Apple’s decision until either the courts or Apple decides otherwise. That means, as expected, we won’t see Fortnite on the App Store, iOS, or further Apple platforms likely until the court case has finished. Even then, we might only see it Epic Games and Fortnite back in the Apple ecosystem if an appeal goes in Epic’s favor.
It’s a long fight ahead for Epic Games. Tim Sweeney suggested it could be five years before court appeals are finally wrapped up. As such, it will be quite some time before the Epic Games v. Apple case comes to a close and, at least, an equally long time before we see Fortnite on an iPad or iPhone again. Stay tuned as we continue to follow this case for further updates and details.
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replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, Epic and Fortnite blacklisted from Apple platforms until court verdicts are 'final & unappealable'
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Apple isn't going to reinstate Epic's developer account until all appeals are done. Thread here:
https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1440711467888615431?s=19
It's a bit sad Tim is still playing the victim "Apple promised!" C'mon man-
the goal of the App Store policies is to ensure no company ever has enough power to convince consumers to follow the app to another platform. Epic tried to fight this as they had a game that might've been big enough to draw users away from iOS. So banning Epic for potentially years as appeals go through the courts is exactly the message Apple wants to send to any other developers who think they have enough clout on Apple's platform to try to force Apple to change things.
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