Epic Games' ongoing legal battle with Apple over the distribution of Fortnite on iOS devices has escalated once again. Epic has accused Apple of blocking its latest Fortnite submission, preventing the game from being released on the U.S. App Store.
Earlier this month, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney announced that Fortnite would soon return to the U.S. iOS App Store following a significant court ruling. On April 30, a U.S. Federal District Court in California ruled that Apple had willfully violated a court order in the Epic Games v. Apple case. This order required Apple to allow developers to offer alternative payment methods outside of their apps.
Epic's Tim Sweeney remains committed to challenging Apple and Google, regardless of how long it takes. Photo by SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg. In January, IGN reported on Sweeney's substantial financial commitment to this battle, with billions spent fighting Apple and Google over app store policies. Sweeney views this as a long-term investment in Epic and Fortnite's future, confident that Epic can sustain this fight for decades.
The core of the dispute lies in Epic's refusal to pay the standard 30% store fees on mobile game revenue. Instead, Epic aims to distribute Fortnite through its own Epic Games Store, bypassing Apple and Google's fees. This disagreement led to Fortnite's removal from iOS devices back in 2020.
Despite Sweeney's recent tweet suggesting Fortnite's imminent return to iOS, the game remains unavailable. Epic has now stated to IGN that "Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the US App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union. Now, sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it."
This situation is detrimental for Epic, which has lost billions in revenue since Fortnite was removed from iPhones five years ago. Sweeney has taken to Twitter to appeal directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook, tweeting, "Hi Tim. How about if you let our mutual customers access Fortnite? Just a thought."Hi Tim. How about if you let our mutual customers access Fortnite? Just a thought.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) May 15, 2025
Following the court ruling, Apple was referred to federal prosecutors for violating the U.S. court order. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers emphasized, "Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated. This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order."
Judge Rogers also referred Apple and its vice president of finance, Alex Roman, to federal prosecutors for a criminal contempt investigation. She criticized Roman's testimony on Apple's compliance with her injunction as being "replete with misdirection and outright lies."
In response, Apple stated, "we strongly disagree with the decision. We will comply with the court’s order and we will appeal." Last week, Apple requested a pause on the ruling from the U.S. appeals court in the Epic Games case.
