Epic Games on X early on Friday morning:

Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the US App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union. Now, sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it.

People have asked me since my update earlier this month, when I called Epic Games a dishonest company, why I would say so. Here’s a great example: Apple never blocked Apple’s “Fortnite” submission on iOS, either in the United States or the European Union, but the company has reported it as being blocked nearly everywhere, including to those moronic content farm “news” accounts all over social media. This is a downright lie from Epic. Here’s the relevant snippet from a letter Apple sent to Epic that Epic itself made public:

As you are well aware, Apple has previously denied requests to reinstate the Epic Games developer account, and we have informed you that Apple will not revisit that decision until after the U.S. litigation between the parties concludes. In our view, the same reasoning extends to returning Fortnite to the U.S. storefront of the App Store regardless of which Epic-related entity submits the app. If Epic believes that there is some factual or legal development that warrants further consideration of this position, please let us know in writing. In the meantime, Apple has determined not to take action on the Fortnite app submission until after the Ninth Circuit rules on our pending request for a partial stay of the new injunction.

Apple did not approve or reject Epic’s app update, which it submitted to both the E.U. and U.S. App Stores last week, causing the update to be held up indefinitely in App Review. When Epic says it cannot “release… to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union,” it specifically means this latest release, which was also sent to the United States. “Fortnite” is still available on iOS in the European Union; it just happens to be that the latest patch hasn’t been reviewed. But if any unsuspecting “Fortnite” player spent any time on social media in the last day, they wouldn’t know that — Apple is just portrayed as an evil antagonist playing games again. For once, that’s incorrect.

Epic then wrote back to the judge in the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, asking for yet another injunction as it thinks this is somehow a violation of the first admonishment from late April. From Epic’s petition to the court:

Apple’s refusal to consider Epic’s Fortnite submission is Apple’s latest attempt to circumvent this Court’s Injunction and this Court’s authority. Epic therefore seeks an order enforcing the Injunction, finding Apple in civil contempt yet again, and requiring Apple to promptly accept any compliant Epic app, including Fortnite, for distribution on the U.S. storefront of the App Store.

As I wrote in my update earlier this month calling Epic a company of liars, Judge Gonzalez Rodgers’ injunction was scathing toward Apple, but it went short of forcing it to allow Epic back onto the App Store. That’s because Epic was found liable for breach of contract and was ordered to pay Apple “30% of the $12,167,719 in revenue Epic Games collected from users in the Fortnite app on iOS through Epic Direct Payment between August and October 2020, plus (ii) 30% of any such revenue Epic Games collected from November 1, 2020 through the date of judgment, and interest according to law.” I pulled that quote directly from the judge’s 2021 decision when she ruled on Apple’s counterclaims. Apple was explicitly not required to reinstate Epic’s developer account, and that remained true even after the April injunction. They’re different parts of the same lawsuit.

Obviously Epic is trying to get this by, but Judge Gonzalez Rogers isn’t an idiot. The April injunction ruled on the one count (of 10) that Apple lost in the 2021 decision, but it did not modify the original ruling. Apple was still found not liable on nine of 10 counts brought by Epic, and it won the counterclaim of breach of contract, which pertains to Epic’s developer account. Here’s a quote from the 2021 decision:

Because Apple’s breach of contract claim is also premised on violations of [Developer Program License Agreement] provisions independent of the anti-steering provisions, the Court finds and concludes, in light of plaintiff’s admissions and concessions, that Epic Games has breached these provisions of the DPLA and that Apple is entitled to relief for these violations.

“Apple is entitled to relief for those violations.” Interesting. Notice how the 2021 order rules extensively on this matter, whereas this year’s injunction includes nothing of the sort. That’s because the April ruling only affected the one count where Apple was indeed found liable — violation of the California Unfair Competition Law. The court’s mandated remedy for that count was opening the App Store to third-party payment processors; it says nothing about bringing Epic back to the App Store.

Epic is an attention-seeking video game monopoly, and Tim Sweeney, its chief executive, is a lying narcissist whose publicity stunts are unbearable to watch. I’ll be truly shocked if Judge Yvonne Gonzalez goes against her 2021 order and forces Apple to let Epic back on the store in the United States.

There is an argument for Apple acting nice and letting Epic back on, regardless of the judge’s decision, to preserve its brand image. While I agree it should let external payment processors on the store purely out of self-defense, irrespective of how the court rules on appeal, I disagree that it should capitulate to Epic, Spotify, or any of these thug companies. If Epic really wanted to use its own payment processor in “Fortnite” back in 2020, it should’ve just sued Apple without breaking the rules of the App Store. Apple wouldn’t have had any reason to remove it from the App Store, and it would be able to take advantage of the new App Store rules made a few weeks ago. Epic is run by a petulant brat; self-respecting adults don’t break the rules and play the victim when they get caught.

If Apple lets Epic back on the store, it sets a new precedent: that any company can break Apple’s rules, sue it, and run any scam on the App Store. What if some scum developer started misusing people’s credit cards, sued Apple to get its developer account back after it got caught, and banked on public support to get back on the store because Apple cares about its “public image?” Bullying a company for enforcing its usually well-intentioned rules — even if they may be illegal now — is terrible because it negates all of the rules. Epic broke the rules. It cheated. It lied. It’s run by degenerates. Liars should never be let on any public marketplace — let alone the most valuable one in the nation.