Apple Officially Terminates Epic Games' App Store Developer Account

Staying true to its word, Apple has now terminated Epic Games‘ developer account over on its App Store. The move comes following an ongoing legal battle between the tech giant and the video game developer and publisher over Fortnite and its bypassing of the App Store for in-game transactions, which Apple normally takes a 30 percent cut of. The termination now means that Fortnite will no longer be available on the digital store, and those who have already downloaded the game will not be able to update it beyond August 28.

Apple issued the following statement regarding the termination:

“We are disappointed that we have had to terminate the Epic Games account on the App Store. We have worked with the team at Epic Games for many years on their launches and releases. The court recommended that Epic comply with the App Store guidelines while their case moves forward, guidelines they’ve followed for the past decade until they created this situation. Epic has refused. Instead they repeatedly submit Fortnite updates designed to violate the guidelines of the App Store. This is not fair to all other developers on the App Store and is putting customers in the middle of their fight. We hope that we can work together again in the future, but unfortunately that is not possible today.”

Notably, the new move by Apple does not affect Epic’s other account used to maintain its Unreal Engine, as a judge said earlier this week that blocking this alternative account to retaliate against Fortnite would seem “like an overreach.”

Stay tuned as the story develops.

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