Epic Games Removed from Apple’s App Store

Apple officially terminated “Fortnite” Creator Epic Games’ App Store account, following a legal battle with the game studio over violating App Store guidelines after the developer started using its own direct payment system. 

The users who have already downloaded Fortnite or other Epic Games’ titles will still be able to play but they won’t be able to make in-app purchases using Apple’s own payment system. Users will no longer be able to download Fortnite or other Epic titles through the App Store. Epic is restricted to submit new games or updates to the App Store from this day forth. 

Apple confirmed the termination in a statement. 

We are disappointed that we have had to terminate the Epic Games account on the App Store. We have worked with the team at Epic Games for many years on their launches and releases. The court recommended that Epic comply with the App Store guidelines while their case moves forward, guidelines they’ve followed for the past decade until they created this situation. Epic has refused. Instead they repeatedly submit Fortnite updates designed to violate the guidelines of the App Store. This is not fair to all other developers on the App Store and is putting customers in the middle of their fight. We hope that we can work together again in the future, but unfortunately that is not possible today.
Tim Sweeney, Epic Games CEO & Founder, pointed out that Apple has started to feature PUBG, Fortnite competitor, just after the termination. 

While waiting for Apple to #FreeFortnite on iOS and Mac, here’s another awesome battle royale game powered by Unreal Engine! https://t.co/IZJL1YYUtv

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) August 28, 2020