Epic Games submits Fortnite to Apple after legal victory

In the United States, Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, recently took a significant step toward bringing its popular game back to the iPhone by submitting it to the Apple App Store for review on May 9, 2025. The submission followed a favorable legal ruling in Epic's ongoing antitrust battle with Apple, where a judge ruled that Apple could not charge a commission on direct payment link-outs from apps. The legal dispute began when Epic Games added a direct payment option to Fortnite in 2020, which violated Apple's policies and led to the game's removal from the App Store. Over the years, this conflict sparked a broader conversation about the fairness of app store commission structures and led to many developers seeking alternative ways to enable direct payments while avoiding high commissions imposed by Apple. Epic's submitted version of Fortnite is expected to offer users a choice between Apple's in-app payment system or direct payments through the Epic Games Store, allowing for potential bonuses through Epic's rewards program. While Apple has a history of approving about 90% of app submissions quickly, the company could still reject Fortnite's return, especially given the context of their ongoing legal dispute. However, rejecting the app may yield poor optics for Apple, as it could be seen as a retaliation against a competitor rather than a neutral appraisal of the app's content.