The fight between Epic Games and Apple isn’t slowing down, and now Fortnite’s return to iPhones is officially on pause again.
Epic says Apple has blocked its latest attempt to bring the game back to the U.S. App Store, which also means it won’t be showing up on iOS anywhere else in the world for now.
Earlier this month, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney had fans excited when he said Fortnite would be back on iPhones in the U.S. within a few days. That all changed after the latest development, putting the relaunch completely on hold.
After Sweeney’s recent tweet about Fortnite coming back, fans were hopeful. But now, Epic has confirmed that Apple blocked their latest update.
The company said, “Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the U.S. 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.”
So instead of a big return, Fortnite is now completely unavailable on iPhones everywhere. That’s a tough hit for Epic, which has already lost out on billions in revenue since 2020.
Sweeney even tweeted directly at Apple CEO Tim Cook, saying, “Hi Tim. How about if you let our mutual customers access Fortnite? Just a thought.”
Things got even more intense after the recent court ruling. The judge in the case, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, criticized Apple for ignoring the court’s order.
She made it clear this wasn’t a suggestion and said there are no second chances when a company knowingly disobeys the law.
Apple responded by saying they strongly disagree with the ruling and plan to appeal. Just last week, they asked the court to delay enforcement of the order while they fight it.
Now Fortnite’s comeback is stalled again. Epic didn’t go into detail about why Apple blocked the update, and Apple hasn’t said anything publicly yet, despite the recent Fortnite resubmission. What’s clear is that the legal fight is far from over, and Fortnite fans on iOS will have to keep waiting.
