Epic Games to Remove ‘Fortnite: Save the World’ from Macs on September 23

Epic Games is removing Fortnite: Save The World from Mac devices due to the ongoing legal conflict between the developer and Apple.

According to Engadget, Epic Games says Fortnite: Save the World will no longer be playable on macOS beginning on September 23rd because Apple is preventing the game from receiving new updates. The co-op action shooter was initially released as a paid early access title in 2017. Epic’s far more popular free-to-play battle royale will still be playable on Mac, the company says.

Epic says Apple is blocking new updates and patches for the macOS version of Save the World, and an upcoming update going out to other platforms will cause bugs and “a very poor experience” for players stuck on the current version. In late August, Apple terminated Epic’s developer account, meaning users cannot download or reinstall games developed by Epic, including Fortnite, and Epic can no longer validate updates for distribution.

“Apple is preventing Epic from signing games and patches for distribution on Mac, which ends our ability to develop and offer Fortnite: Save the World for the platform,” the official blog post reads. “Specifically, our upcoming v14.20 release will cause bugs for players on v13.40, resulting in a very poor experience.”

“We are issuing a refund for all players who purchased any Save the World Founder’s or Starter Packs (including Upgrades) and played Save the World on macOS between September 17, 2019 and September 17, 2020. Additionally, any purchased V-Bucks spent on Llamas on macOS in this period will also be refunded. As of today, September 17, 2020, Save the World Starter Packs will no longer be available for purchase on macOS.”

The announcement is framed with all of the blame being shifted onto Apple, despite Epic Games very much putting themselves in this position with the company when it launched the “Free Fortnite” campaign back in August, which saw Fortnite being removed from the Apple and Google Play storefronts. At the time of writing it is yet to return, but remains playable on all other platforms.