The litigation between tech giant Apple and Epic Games has been going on for a long time. The debate over alternative payment methods and unfair competition became even more heated with the animation shared by Epic Games for Apple. After that, the two companies faced each other in the courts for a long time.
In the past weeks, a turning point has been reached in the Apple-Epic case. Epic had a great victory at this point and forced Apple to allow alternative payment methods. The lawsuit between the two companies on different issues is still ongoing. But Epic, which wants to bring Fortnite back to the App Store immediately after this victory, will apparently have to wait for a long time.
It may take 5 years for Fortnite to return to iOS:
Judge Yvone Gonzalez Rogers, who is in the lawsuit process, found Apple to freeze the developer account of Epic Games in the App Store last year. Moreover, and even the key point of this news, Judge Rogers left entirely to himself whether Apple would activate this account. This means that Apple doesn’t have to bring Fortnite back, whether it wins or loses the case.
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, said on his Twitter account that Apple refused to activate the developer account. The Apple team, on the other hand, said that Fortnite will not return to the App Store until the case is completely settled. This can take up to 5 years.
Apple’s attitude in question has angered Sweeney enough to post in series, but when you look at it from a legal perspective, it seems that the case is only for alternative payment methods. In other words, Apple can now include alternative payment methods within the application. However, we can say that it is up to the heart of the company to bring Fortnite back or not.