The ongoing platform war between Epic Games and Apple is reaching an unfortunate, but predictable, conclusion. On Wednesday morning, Epic announced that Fortnite‘s upcoming major update for Chapter 2 Season 4 will not be coming to iOS or macOS platforms. Update v14.00 is planned to go live on August 27 across all other platforms, but Apple users will have to wait for Epic and Apple to figure out their issues first.
Epic’s cited reason for the latest update not coming to Apple platforms is that, “Apple is blocking Fortnite updates and new installs on the App Store, and has said they will terminate our ability to develop Fortnite for Apple devices.” The message Epic wants to convey is that Epic wants to provide update for users on Apple devices, but that it’s Apple’s fault for preventing Epic from doing so. That, obviously, isn’t the entire truth.
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The full situation has to take into account why Apple has removed Fortnite from the Apple Store. Epic added a “Direct Payment” system in Fortnite that bypasses Apple, denying the storefront its required 30% fee on all in-app purchases. Apple removed Fortnite as a result, saying that Fortnite can return to the storefront once the Direct Payment feature is removed from the game. So, in a literal sense, the problem is due to an action that Epic took first that broke the Apple Store rules for apps.
Even that isn’t the full story, however. Epic has since filed a lawsuit against Apple asking for “injunctive relief to allow fair competition” on the platform. Further, it alleges that Apple’s iOS App market is anti-competitive and that its contractual restrictions are illegal. In other words, Apple says it removed Fortnite because it broke Apple’s rules, but Epic is saying the rules are illegal and shouldn’t need to be followed.
Epic could, theoretically, take out its Direct Payment system from Fortnite in order to have Fortnite put back up on the Apple storefront while the lawsuit continues. However, that would likely be harmful to the argument it’s making in its lawsuit. Namely, that it’s pursuing this lawsuit because it’s right and not because Epic is seeking financial gain. Having Fortnite removed from iOS also serves as a point of controversy that riles fans up in support of Epic, as the #FreeFortnite hashtag shows.
Regardless of the cause, Fortnite will not be receiving updates on iOS for a very long time. It’s not even clear whether Fortnite will remain playable on the platform. Android users will still be able to update Fortnite directly from Epic, but not through the Google Play store. Apple has no such workaround. And it may be a while before that changes.
Fortnite is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and mobile devices, with PS5 and Xbox Series X support planned for later this year.
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