Epic asks court to compel Apple to reinstate Fortnite on the App Store

Late Friday, Epic Games sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers accusing Apple of refusing to consider its Fortnite submission, calling it “Apple’s latest attempt to circumvent this Court’s Injunction and this Court’s authority.”

As reported by Mark Gurman, Epic’s petition reads:

Apple’s refusal to consider Epic’s Fortnite submission is Apple’s latest attempt to circumvent this Court’s Injunction and this Court’s authority. Epic therefore seeks an order enforcing the Injunction, finding Apple in civil contempt yet again, and requiring Apple to promptly accept any compliant Epic app, including Fortnite, for distribution on the U.S. storefront of the App Store.

In the document, Epic also makes a point to mention Tim Cook’s testimony at trial, in which he said:

It would be to the benefit of the users to have Fortnite back on the App Store.

Epic also stresses that:

Apple also expressly and repeatedly told both this Court and Epic that it would welcome Fortnite back to the App Store if Epic complied with all of Apple’s Guidelines. That is exactly what Epic did.

A bit of context

The request comes after Apple told Epic Games it would “not revisit” the decision to reinstate the Epic Games developer account “until after the U.S. litigation between the parties concludes”.

Earlier today, Epic informed players that Apple had blocked its most recent Fortnite build, rendering the game unavailable worldwide on iOS until the ban is lifted. Apple countered the claims, stating that it merely asked Epic Sweden (the developer account handling the resubmission) to remove the U.S. storefront from the build so the game could remain live in other regions.

What might come next

Back in the very first hearing of this case, Judge Rogers said she was “inclined not to require Apple to allow Fortnite on the App Store”. A few months later, she denied Epic’s request for a preliminary injunction, effectively allowing Apple to continue banning the game.

That matters now because Epic’s new motion asks the judge to go a step further and order Apple to green-light Fortnite anyway. To grant that, she would likely have to conclude that Apple’s continued refusal has crossed the line into contempt of court, despite her earlier statement that Apple wasn’t obligated to host the game.

Epic’s request may be bolstered by Judge Rogers’ recent order demanding Apple comply with the court’s 2021 injunction. In the days since, Epic has tried to pressure Apple by live-tweeting the ongoing stalemate over the new app submission. But with that approach seemingly going nowhere, this new legal strategy may be Epic’s way of pressing its luck a little further.