FORTNITE could be facing a year-long Apple ban, according to the game’s developer Epic Games.
The game has been unavailable on the Apple App Store for several weeks now – with no sign of it being reinstated.
Apple takes a 30% cut of money earned by apps through the App Store – and Epic Games tried to dodge this fee.
Both firms are now embroiled in a legal dispute over the ban.
The scale of Fortnite’s ban has been revealed in a legal filing from Epic.
Epic is asking the court to make Apple put Fortnite back on the App Store.
The games developer argues that it’s “likely to suffer irreparable harm” if the ban continues.
This is because it has 116 million registered users who use an Apple device to play the game.
Those people can not currently update or reinstall it.
Epic’s latest filing states that Apple said: “we will deny your reapplication to the Apple Developer Program for at least a year considering the nature of your acts”.
The full court hearing begins at the end of this month and it isn’t looking like Fortnite will be reappearing on the App Store before then.
That is unless Epic wins a preliminary injunction that it recently filed for.
Apple has said that Epic’s conduct has been “wilful, brazen, and unlawful”.
It’s now seeking damages from Epic Games for a breach of its App Store contract.
In a filing entered on Tuesday, Apple said: “Epic’s flagrant disregard for its contractual commitments and other misconduct has caused significant harm to Apple.
“Left unchecked, Epic’s conduct threatens the very existence of the iOS ecosystem and its tremendous value to consumers.”
In a 67-page response to Epic’s court filing Apple stated: “Although Epic portrays itself as a modern corporate Robin Hood, in reality it is a multibillion-dollar enterprise that simply wants to pay nothing for the tremendous value it derives from the App Store.
“This court should hold Epic to its contractual promises, award Apple compensatory and punitive damages, and enjoin Epic from engaging in further unfair business practices.”
Epic Games says that daily activity from iPhone users has slumped by 60% since the ban.
But US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers previously said that Apple was fine to ban Fortnite.
But the judge ruled that Apple couldn’t block Epic Games’ developer accounts.
The judge also said Apple couldn’t prevent developers from using Epic Games’ very popular Unreal Engine – a tool used to make video games.
Epic Games may have to comply with the App Store rules, or live with Fortnite being permanently banned from iPhone.
As part of an ongoing PR war, Epic Games recently held a #FreeFortnite tournament with “anti-Apple” prizes – including Samsung gadgets.
Apple and rival tech giant Google have come under fire in recent years for operating alleged “monopolies” in which they stifle competition and take colossal cuts on sales made through their app stores.
“Apple has become what it once railed against: The behemoth seeking to control markets, block competition, and stifle innovation,” Epic said in its lawsuit against Apple, filed in the Northern District of California.
“Apple is bigger, more powerful, more entrenched, and more pernicious than the monopolists of yesteryear.”
In a separate lawsuit against Google, Epic referenced the company’s now-infamous mantra, “Don’t Be Evil”.
“Twenty-two years later, Google has relegated its motto to nearly an afterthought.”
Epic also attacked Apple on social media, launching a campaign with the hashtag #FreeFortnite.
The company urged players to seek refunds from Apple if they lost access to the game, and created a parody of Apple’s famous “1984” television ad.
In the parody, which quickly garnered hundreds of thousands of views, a female Fortnite fighter hurls a unicorn-shaped club to smash a screen on which an Apple-headed character speaks of “the anniversary of the platform unification directives.”
