Fortnite and all Epic Games products have officially been removed from the Apple App Store amid the ongoing legal over in-app purchases.
Despite being one of the world’s leading game companies, and the creators of the Fortnite phenomenon, Apple has effectively banned users from downloading any Epic Games mobile apps.
Effective Friday, Apple users will no longer be able to download games like Fortnite, Gears of War or Infinity Blade on iPhone or iPod.
The news is expected to be a huge blow to the Epic Games company, considering Fortnite was one of the highest-grossing apps on the platform despite being free to download, according to Wired.
Fortnite users reportedly spent a whopping $90 million USD ($122M AUD) on in-app purchases in the last three months alone, but Epic Games only received roughly $60 million of that thanks to Apple’s 30% cut via the App Store.
Apple’s decision to remove them from the platform comes after Epic Games attempted to roll out a direct, in-game payment method, seemingly in an attempt to avoid Apple taking a 30% cut. As you’d expect, this prompted a pretty hefty legal battle between the two major companies.
To simplify an incredibly complex situation, Apple removed the Fortnite app from the platform, which prompted the parent company to sue the pants off them.
“Apple’s removal of Fortnite is yet another example of Apple flexing its enormous power in order to impose unreasonable restraints and unlawfully maintain its 100 percent monopoly over the in-app payment processing market,” Epic Games said when the ordeal first started.
But it didn’t take long for Apple to fire back, clarifying that “Epic made a deliberate choice to cheat [the company].”
As you’d expect, the remaining devices that still have Fortnite downloaded are now being flogged on eBay for top dollar. In completely unrelated news, if you’re interested in buying a smashed iPhone X with Fortnite, hit me up bro.
