Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney says Apple is keeping Fortnite’s return to the App Store in limbo, having “neither accepted nor rejected” the latest submission for review.
The ongoing silence now threatens to delay Fortnite’s next major update, planned for this Friday.
Judge ordered Apple to comply, but didn’t require Fortnite’s return
The ink wasn’t even dry yet on Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ order for Apple to quit it and do what it was told in the original 2021 injunction, when Epic Games confirmed it would submit Fortnite for Apple’s approval as soon as humanly possible.
Which they did, on May 9th. Then… nothing. After five days without response, Epic withdrew the original submission and filed a new version to accommodate a planned Friday update.
Since Apple’s own guidelines state that 90% of app submissions are reviewed within 24 hours, this radio silence is highly unusual. But here’s the thing: this may not be radio silence at all, but rather a one-sided stalemate.
When Judge Rogers issued her original decision in 2021, she said Apple was not obligated to let Fortnite return to the App Store.
She concluded that Epic Games had willingly broken the rules it had agreed to when creating its developer account, so the ban was fair game.
So far, Apple has not given any indication whether it will actually let Fortnite back into the App Store. Which is probably why Sweeney has been very active on X about it, knowing that Fortnite fans will pile on (often, mentioning Tim Cook directly).
Apple is listening
Adding to this entire predicament, Tim Sweeney posted earlier today about how a Fortnite knock-off was available at the App Store. A few hours later, the app was pulled, to which Sweeney posted about yet another knock-off making the rounds.
For now, Fortnite fans on iOS remain in wait-and-see mode. Sweeney has not indicated what Epic’s next move will be if Godot never comes. However, with no communication from Apple and the Friday update at risk, the saga between both companies appears far from over.
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