In another dramatic turn of the current battle between epic games and AppleEpic said that Apple prevented Fortnite from appearing in American and EU application stores, despite the recent legal victories that were supposed to level the rules of the game for developers.
After winning a major trial which forced Apple to allow external payment options in the American app Store without invoice a commission, Epic Games took a step to bring Fortnite. The company submitted the game to the American App Store on May 9, 2025.
Update the race against time
But for a whole week, Apple took no measure. This delay led Epic to withdraw the submission and to try again. According to the CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, the withdrawal occurred because Fortnite needs weekly updates with new content, and all platforms must be updated simultaneously to maintain consistency.
Epic submitted a new version of Fortnite on May 14, 2025, with the updated content. However, Friday morning, Fortnite published an update on X (formerly Twitter), saying:
“Now, unfortunately, Fortnite on iOS will be offline in the world until Apple unlock.”
Apple repelled
Epic too accused Apple to block the game in the European Union, which makes Fortnite impossible in this region.
Apple, however, challenged Epic’s claims. A spokesman replied::
“We asked the Sweden Epic to submit the application update without including the American display of the App Store so as not to have a strong impact in other geographies. We have taken no measure to remove the live version of Fortnite from alternative distribution markets in the CE. ”
