On September 10, the United States court case between Epic Games and Apple came to its conclusion. The judge's decision ultimately left both parties unhappy with the results, as Epic failed to persuade the court of Apple's monopoly but still sided with Epic in removing Apple's "anti-steering" rules. Meanwhile, Fortnite players are left wondering what this all means for them. Despite Fortnite fans' hope that the case ending could mean Fortnite returning to iOS soon, new details reveal the process could be years away yet.
In a letter shared by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney on Twitter from Apple's legal representation, Apple makes clear that it has no intention of allowing Fortnite back onto the iOS App Store. Lawyer Mark A. Perry states that due to the context of the court's decision, as well as "Epic's duplicitous conduct in the past," Apple is refusing to reinstate Epic Games' developer account. In other words, there's no reason to believe Fortnite is coming back to the App Store.
Further, Apple says that it has no plans to reconsider its decision for the foreseeable future. The sole caveat is that Apple leaves open the possibility of reconsidering once the "district court's judgment becomes final and nonappealable." In other words, Apple says it won't reconsider while Epic Games is appealing the court case. Sweeney says that this appeal process could take as long as five years, meaning Fortnite, as well as any other release from Epic Games, won't be coming to iOS soon.
Sweeney is making this letter from Apple public as part of a statement accusing the company of lying to the court. According to Sweeney, Apple said it would "welcome Epic's return to the App Store if they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else." Sweeney says that's exactly what Epic is trying to do following the conclusion of its initial court case, as it did as the court demanded. That includes disabling Epic payments server-side and paying $6,000,000 to Apple.
In summary, Epic says that so long as Apple follows through with the court's order to remove "anti-steering" rules, Epic would resubmit Fortnite to the App Store. The appeals process would move forward unrelated. Apple, in turn, says it continues to refuse to allow Epic's return and will continue to do so going forward.
While Apple says it would be willing to reconsider its decision at the end of the appeals process, years down the road, the clear implication is that Apple is open to banning Epic from its services forever. It's hard not to see Apple's current decision-making as pushing Epic to end its pursuit of appeals. By keeping Epic off of its services, it has leverage. Additionally, Epic has larger ongoing goals from this process, too. Even after the court case has ended, it remains a complicated mess, with Fortnite players caught in the middle.
Fortnite is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.