For those who missed the news, a couple of weeks ago, the courts issued a ruling on the Apple VS Epic lawsuit. It kind of ruled in both their favor, where Apple is now forced to allow developers to include links to outside payment platforms, and where Epic was forced to pay Apple $6 million in damages.
Just last week, Epic agreed with Apple that we would play by the same rules as everyone else. pic.twitter.com/WOxsbnAFXE
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 22, 2021
Epic has since appealed their loss, but in the meantime have also asked Apple to allow Fortnite back into the App Store. However, according to the reply from Apple’s legal team, it seems that Apple isn’t interested in Epic’s request for a reinstatement, claiming that the company had demonstrated “duplicitous conduct in the past”.
They did state that they will only consider requests for reinstatements once the court’s judgement has come final and is no longer appealable. Sweeney doesn’t seem pleased by this as he notes in his tweet that the appeal process could take as long as five years.
Whether or not it will drag out five years remains to be seen. It is possible that maybe Apple and Epic could come to some kind of settlement and agreement before then, but for now, iOS gamers should probably not hold their breaths for Fortnite’s return anytime soon.