Epic CEO Reveals Fortnite App Store Ban May Last 5 Years

Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney took to Twitter earlier today to reveal that Apple has potentially blacklisted Fortnite from the App Store and the rest of its ecosystem entirely until the exhaustion of all court appeals.

Just last week, Epic agreed with Apple that we would play by the same rules as everyone else. pic.twitter.com/WOxsbnAFXE

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic)

September 22, 2021

Sweeney continued that Apple’s decision could keep Fortnite away from iOS and Mac platforms for as long as five years.

“Apple lied,” he tweeted. “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,” added Sweeney.

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

Apple and Epic’s battle began with a lawsuit last year when Epic added a new workaround to Fortnite for iOS, allowing it to get around the 30% cut that Apple takes off of all app purchases. Apple removed Fortnite from its App Store in response, which prompted Epic to sue Apple.