Epic asks courts to order Apple to bring Fortnite back to App Store

UPDATE: Fortnite is back on the App Store, Epic Games has officially confirmed, putting an end to a years-long battle with Apple.

Epic Games makes a new filing that asks courts to force Apple to allow Fortnite onto the App Store.

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Despite Epic's technical win, the Epic vs Apple saga isn't yet over. Epic's formal submission of Fortnite has been rejected from the App Store, and Epic has responded by filing a motion for injunction enforcement which asks California's northern district courts to essentially force Apple to allow a rules-adherent version of Fortnite onto the App Store.

Epic legal counsel argues that "ordering the review and acceptance" of such an App Store-compliant version of Fortnite could be included as relief for the previous court-ordered injunction that Apple was found to have violated. In late April, California district court judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that Apple had wilfully dis-regarded a court-ordered injunction blocking it from anti-steering policies on the App Store (Apple was essentially deterring users from buying directly from developers off-platform).

Earlier this month, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that Fortnite's return to iOS represented "massive growth opportunities" for the company. As of late 2023, Fortnite had made over $20 billion in revenue since launching in 2018.

We've taken relevant snippets from the filing, which was published on May 16:

"Apple does not, and cannot, provide any legitimate reason for its refusal even to consider a vastly popular, fully compliant app that Apple's own CEO recognized ought to be reinstated "for the benefit of the users".

"Here, where Apple has specifically and repeatedly violated this Court's orders, 'the [C]ourt has discretion to fashion additional injunctive relief as a sanction...'

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"Ordering the review and acceptance of a compliant version of Fortnite is appropriate to enforce the Injunction. Such an Order would not unduly impinge on Apple's contractual rights or on its right to deal or not deal with whomever it sees fit. Rather, it would simply recognize the fact that Apple cannot refuse to deal with Epic as retaliation for Epic's decision to avail itself of this Court's Injunction, including through a multi-month legal proceeding exposing Apple's contempt and lies.

"An order requiring Apple to distribute any compliant version of Fortnite also would be appropriate as a sanction for Apple's violation, consistent with the Court's prior finding that "civil contempt sanctions" may be necessary should Apple continue its pattern of non-compliance.

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"For the foregoing reasons, Epic requests that the Court enter an Order (1) finding that Apple violated the Injunction by refusing to consider Epic's Fortnite submission; and (2) requiring Apple to accept any compliant version of Fortnite onto the U.S. storefront of the App Store."