Fortnite will not be coming back to the iPhone soon. Epic’s developer account will be in limbo for 12 months

Fortnite will not be coming back to the iPhone soon. Epic's developer account will be in limbo for 12 months

Apple seems to have kicked Epic while it’s down once again, promising that the developer will not get its App Store account back for at least a year.

In case you are out of the loop, here’s a quick recap of what happened between these multi-billion dollar companies.
  • In early August, Epic introduced a new store baked into its super-popular Fortnite game
  • The store allowed users to buy V-Bucks (digital currency) directly from Epic, without giving Apple or Google their 30% cut
  • Apple and Google responded swiftly by removing Fortnite from the App Store and Play Store
  • Epic had a lawsuit ready to go as soon as that happened
  • Apple responded with a lawsuit of its own
  • To furtner punish Epic for its aggressive attack, Apple deleted Epic’s developer account on the App Store

If you happen to have Fortnite on your iPhone or iPad, you can play it, but it won’t get updates, since Epic is cut off from the Apple ecosystem. If you used to have Fortnite before, you can not download it from your “Purchased apps” tab — Apple made sure of that.

This means that if you reset your iPhone, or if you upgrade to a new iPhone, you will have to bid Fortnite “bye bye”, for the time being. But for how long?

When will Fortnite be back on the iPhone?

By the looks of it, it could be at least a year. For one, the lawsuits between Epic and Apple are still in their infancy. We have a tonne of popcorn ready, as this whole drama is not yet fully played out. But, more to the point, Apple has absolutely refused to reinstate Epic’s developer account on the App Store. In fact,

Note, this only says “apply for” — there’s no guarantee that Epic will even be allowed back on iOS. But maybe, probably, if it behaves for a year, Apple may consider it.

What does this mean about the Unreal Engine?

Those of us that don’t care much about Fortnite might be inclined to hang back and watch these companies have at it. However, the banning of Epic’s developer account has introduced a major problem that affects a ton of games and their developers. Since Epic’s Unreal Engine is one of the most popular platforms to make games on, this means that a ton of developers have lost access to a major tool. Microsoft spoke up on the side of game developers, stating that they are stuck between a hammer and a hard place — they either need to stop developing for iOS and macOS, or they need to switch all of its upcoming titles to a different engine altogether. Both of these are terrible choices.
A hearing on a preliminary injunction is scheduled for September 28th and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said that she was inclined to protect the Unreal Engine from Apple. So, Epic just may be back in the Apple ecosystem in some form. Perhaps, a proxy account that’s solely dedicated to maintaining the Unreal Engine? We’ll see.

Source: Phonearena

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