Apple Temporarily Defeats Epic's Lawsuit to Put Fortnite Back on the App Store

Epic Games's lawsuit to try and put Fortnite back on Apple's App Store has been temporarily defeated in court. Today, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers delivered a verdict that sided with Apple, but there was victory to be found for Epic Games elsewhere in the ruling.

As Bloomberg reported earlier today, Rogers declared that Apple would not have to immediately reinstate Fortnite for download on the App Store. However, the Judge also ruled that Apple could not block Epic Games's access to the Unreal Engine, which the developer can still update and use for other games and apps.

Rogers stressed that the ruling wasn't a "slam dunk" for either side earlier in the day. Additionally, the Judge also cautioned that this temporary verdict will not impact the final outcome of Epic's litigation against Apple, which is set to go to court next month on September 28.

While this obviously isn't the outcome Epic Games wanted, there are plenty of developers out there that are breathing a sigh of relief. Had Apple succeeded in blocking Epic's access to update the Unreal Engine on iOS devices, developers whose games used the engine on iOS devices would have no longer been able to update their games in any way, leaving potential exploits and bugs unfixed. This is what Xbox highlighted when the company filed a statement in support of Epic Games just yesterday.

It's unclear whether this means Epic can still update Fortnite on iOS devices for users that downloaded the game before it was removed from the storefront. If they can't, this would eliminate Fortnite from cross-play with other platforms, as Epic previously announced, as they wouldn't be able to update the game to the same versions as other platforms, like the PS4 or Xbox One. We've reached out to Epic Games for clarification on the matter.