Apple refutes Epic Games’ claim that it’s blocking ‘Fortnite’ from App Store

Epic Games in Thursday claimed that Apple “blocked” its latest Fortnite app submission so that it can’t be released in the U.S. or on the third-party Epic Games Store in the EU.
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.
— Fortnite (@Fortnite) May 16, 2025
An Apple spokesperson responded later on Friday, saying that the company “did not take any action to remove the live version of Fortnite from alternative distribution marketplaces” in the EU.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
Apple said that it asked the game company’s European division, Epic Sweden, to “resubmit the app update without including the US storefront of the App Store so as not to impact Fortnite in other geographies. We did not take any action to remove the live version of Fortnite from alternative distribution marketplaces.”
It’s the latest conflict in years of acrimony between the two companies. They have fought in court over Apple’s App Store policies, including the commissions it charges on in-app purchases — a key source of Epic Games revenue.
MacDailyNews Take: Once again:
The bottom line is clear: Epic Games wants to enjoy all of the benefits of Apple’s App Store, including access to well over one billion of the world’s most affluent users for free. That is illogical, unfair, and, basically, theft. – MacDailyNews, May 4, 2021
How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Apple incurs costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to over one billion users. — MacDailyNews, June 10, 2022
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