The Epic Games vs. Apple court case has ended but the drama continues. Now, Epic wants Apple to reinstate its developer account but the Cupertino tech giant has given Epic a longer route for return. Epic’s founder and CEO Tim Sweeney shared on Twitter that Apple wants all court appeals to come to end before considering reinstatement of the company’s developer account, which can take years.
In 2020, when Epic’s Fortnite game was removed from the App Store and its developer account was terminated for violating App Store’s rules, Apple said that it was ready to welcome Fortnite back on iOS App Store if Epic Games agrees to play by the rules. Back then, the developer not only rejected the offer but also filed multiple lawsuits against Apple in different parts of the world: U.S, UK, the EU, and Australia.
Apple will only consider Epic Games’ reinstatement request when the district court’s judgment has become “final and non-appealable”
Prior to the court’s verdict, Epic had requested Apple to reinstate its developer account so the company can re-launch the Fortnite game in South Korea to take advantage of an upcoming law. That request was denied. After the court’s verdict, Epic filed an appeal but it also paid Apple $6 million in damage as ordered by the court. At the time, we said that Epic wants to let bygones be bygones and is paving the way for its return. Our assessment was correct.
In the emails shared by Mr. Sweeney, Epic Games “agreed with Apple that we would play by the same rules as everyone else.” But Apple wants to keep the developer waiting, the tech giant’s lawyer wrote to Epic that;
“Apple has exercised its discretion not to reinstate Epic’s developer program account at this time. “Furthermore, Apple will not consider any further requests for reinstatement until the district court’s judgment becomes final and non-appealable.”
Now, @Mr. Sweeney is accusing Apple of foul play again and says that the fight will continue on. He wrote,
“Apple lied. Apple spent a year telling the world, the court, and the press they’d ‘welcome Epic’s return to the App Store if they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else. Epic agreed, and now Apple has reneged in another abuse of its monopoly power over a billion users.
Fortnite should not be blacklisted for challenging an agreement containing terms the court found to be unlawful which Apple forces on all developers as terms of access to iOS. We’ll fight on. The need for regulatory and legislative action is clearer than ever before.”
Late last night, Apple informed Epic that Fortnite will be blacklisted from the Apple ecosystem until the exhaustion of all court appeals, which could be as long as a 5-year process. pic.twitter.com/QCD7wogJef
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 22, 2021
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