The Fortnite popular video games returned to the iPhone App Store in the United States, ending an extended exile that has been triggered by a legal confrontation on the costs that Apple for years received via a payment system that the technology giant has been forced to change.
Fortnite, one of the most popular games in the world, praised the long -awaited restoration of its application on the iPhone and the iPad in a Tuesday post, marking the first time that it will be available on these devices because it was ousted in 2020 for trying to avoid commissions from 15% to 30% that Apple collects on transactions in the application.
“Fortnite is back on the App Store in the United States on iPhones and iPads … and on the Epic Games and Altstore store in the EU! He will soon appear in search! ” Read a tweet from the official game account. As the result of its legal war with Apple, Epic has established its own digital store.
The video game, which presents virtual strings on a digital island, returns to the iPhone only a few days after his parent company, Epic Games, filed a request asking a federal judge to order his return in the context of a civil contemplation of the court published against Apple at the end of last month. Last week, the game was dark on Apple devices worldwide, and it remains unavailable in many countries.
In a brief declaration filed in court late Tuesday, Apple said that the dispute that had prevented Fortnite from its iOS software for the iPhone had been resolved. The Cupertino company, California, did not immediately respond to an additional comments.
The legal dispute is part of a bitter quarrel which is still boiling. Epic filed a complaint alleging that Apple had transformed his app store into an illegal monopoly – an assertion that she lost under a decision in 2021 rendered by a federal judge after a month’s trial.
Although she decided that Apple does not break the antitrust laws, the American district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered the company to loosen the control of payments in the application and authorize links to other options that could offer lower prices.
After having exhausted an appeal which was made up to the Supreme Court of the United States, Apple introduced last year a new system which opened the door to links to alternative payment options while imposing a 27% commission on the integrated transactions carried out outside its own system.
Epic retaliated by alleging that Apple did not nose on the legal system, reviving another audience cycle which lasted almost a year before Gonzalez Rogers delivers his spicy reprimand which included the prohibition to collect any type of commission on alternative payment options.
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It seemed to open the way to Fortnite’s return to the iPhone and iPad, but Epic last week said that video games were still blocked by Apple. After Apple argued that Fortnite’s maintenance was always authorized while he was pursuing the contempt of contempt of Gonzalez Rogers, Epic forced the question by asking the judge another prescription which clearly indicates that video games should be authorized on the iPhone and iPad.
Gonzalez Rogers asked on Monday why Apple was still blocking Fortnite without a prescription from the Court of Appeal authorizing this action. She planned a 27 May hearing in Oakland, California, to hear Epic’s last request while noting that “Apple is fully able to solve this problem without any other briefing or audience”.
