According to Tim Sweeney, chief executive of Epic Games, Apple has blocked Fortnite from its App Store until a legal fight with the game’s creator Epic is resolved.
This implies that new players will not be able to download the popular game on their iPhones or other Apple devices.
In a series of tweets, Mr Sweeney chastised Apple, claiming that the appeals procedure might take up to five years.
People who already have the game installed on their Apple devices will be able to play it, but no updates will be available.
The Legal Battle Goes On
Last year, Fortnite was banned from Apple’s App Store for breaching the company’s regulations by creating its own in-app payment system.
This feature attempted to circumvent Apple’s 30 percent fee on all in-app purchases.
Epic Games, which accused Apple of running the App Store as a monopoly, filed a lawsuit in response to the change.
A US court decided in September that Apple couldn’t prevent app developers from referring customers to third-party payment alternatives.
Epic, on the other hand, failed to show that Apple had an unlawful monopoly, according to the judge.
Epic and Apple are each appealing portions of the decision.
Mr Sweeney stated on Twitter, “Apple spent a year assuring the world, the court, and the press that they’d ‘welcome Epic’s return to the App Store provided they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else.”
“Epic agreed, and now Apple is abusing its monopolistic position over a billion users by reneging.”
Apple claimed Epic had “committed a deliberate violation of contract, and breach of trust, by concealing code from Apple” in a letter seen by Mr Sweeney, and that it would not reinstate its account “until the district court’s ruling becomes final and non-appealable.”
Meanwhile, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, has been chastised after an email he wrote to workers urging them not to divulge private information was released.
Apple employees were informed in the letter that the firm will do “all in [its] power to identify anyone who leaked” material to media.
He went on to say that “those who leak private information do not belong” at Apple.
