Apple restored the popular game Fortnite to the App Store in the United States on Tuesday, nearly five years after it was kicked out of the store and its developer sued the tech giant in an antitrust case.
Fortnite’s reinstatement is the result of recent twists in a long-running federal court battle.
Last month, a judge with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Apple cannot reject apps for including links to outside payment methods that enable developers to avoid the App Store’s 30 percent commission.
Apple told the game’s developer, Epic Games, days later that it had the contractual right to reject an app from the store, court documents show. But Epic said that Apple was circumventing the ruling.
On Monday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers called on Apple to reinstate Fortnite to the App Store or return to court to prove it had a legal basis for not doing so. The next day, Fortnite was back on iPhones and iPads in the United States, and Epic and Apple signed a joint statement to the court saying they had resolved that particular dispute.
Representatives for Epic and Apple did not respond to requests for comment late Tuesday.
Their fight began in 2020, when the game maker started encouraging users of the Fortnite app to pay it directly, rather than through the App Store. It also gave users instructions for getting around Google’s payment system.
Hours later, Apple and Google banned Fortnight from their official app stores. Epic then swiftly sued the two tech giants over their requirements that it use their payment systems.
A federal appeals court found in 2023 that Apple did not have a monopoly in mobile games, as Epic had argued. But it said that Apple had violated California’s Unfair Competition Law, and it ordered the company to allow apps with links and buttons for purchasing software and services outside the App Store.
Apple and Epic appealed, for different reasons, but the Supreme Court declined last year to review the case.
The two companies are still fighting in court over Apple’s App Store policies.
After the 2023 ruling, Apple changed its policies to allow developers to link to alternative payment options. But it created screens to discourage online purchases by making them appear dangerous and continued charging a commission for online purchases, court documents show.
Epic then argued in court that Apple wasn’t complying with the order, and a judge ruled in Epic’s favor in April. Apple is appealing that ruling and has requested a delay of the court’s order to loosen its grip on the App Store.
In Epic’s case with Google, a jury ruled in 2023 that Google had maintained a monopoly in the smartphone app store market. Google has appealed, and its app store, Google Play, still does not carry Fortnite. But the game can be downloaded onto Android phones directly from Epic’s games store. Google did not respond to a request for comment late Tuesday.
John Yoon is a Times reporter based in Seoul who covers breaking and trending news.
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