A court ruling worth billions of dollars. Following Europe's ruling, Apple is now banned from charging commissions on purchases made outside the App Store and apps in the United States. Epic Games has announced that Fortnite will be making its grand return to iPhone.
A new legal defeat for Apple in the context of the App Store monopoly and the commissions collected on purchases of applications, content, and services. Already forced to compromise in Europe, the firm has suffered a new setback, this time in the United States, which will cost it dearly.
Epic Games and Apple have been in conflict for many years. The game publisher believed it had secured a major victory in 2021 when the judge in charge of the case ruled that Apple must open the App Store to third-party payment services. Until now, Apple had hidden behind the fact that the company should be paid to provide its payment platform, while blocking alternatives. But the Apple brand had circumvented this court decision by imposing a new tax on third-party payment options.
The judge tightens the screws on Apple
And it's safe to say that Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers didn't appreciate Apple's attempt to not comply with her demands. “Apple’s assumption that this court would tolerate such insubordination was a serious miscalculation,” she said, arguing that the tech giant had deliberately chosen not to comply with her ruling by inventing this stunt. She has also referred the case to the prosecutor for possible contempt of court proceedings.
Apple will above all have to comply with several prohibitions, which will no doubt now be difficult to circumvent. The company will no longer be able to:
- Impose “no commission or fee on consumer purchases outside of an app”.
- Restrict the styling, formatting, or placement of developer links for purchases outside of an app.
- Block or limit “the use of buttons or other calls to action.”
- Attempting to prevent consumers from leaving an app with anything other than “a neutral message informing users that they are going to a third-party site.”
In short, app publishers will no longer be taxed on transactions made on the web, and Apple will no longer be able to implement systems that prevent them from sending users to their own payment platform or restricting certain features. It's a complete victory for Epic Games and other developers. "We strongly disagree with this decision. We will comply with the court order and appeal," said Olivia Dalton, Apple's senior director of communications, in a statement to The Verge. Billions of dollars at stake, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said. "Ultimately, Apple sought to maintain billions of dollars in revenue by flatly defying the court's injunction." After an investigation, it appears that App Store chief Phil Schiller tried to convince his management that it was better to comply with the court order. But it was Apple CEO Tim Cook, influenced by his CFO Luca Maestri, who had the last word and preferred to defy the judicial order.
We will return Fortnite to the US iOS App Store next week.
Epic puts forth a peace proposal: If Apple extends the court's friction-free, Apple-tax-free framework worldwide, we'll return Fortnite to the App Store worldwide and drop current and future litigation on the topic. https://t.co/bIRTePm0Tv
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 30, 2025
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, was of course delighted by this umpteenth turnaround. “No fees on web-based transactions. No more Apple tax. Apple’s unwanted 15-30% fees are now also abolished in the US, as they are in Europe under the Digital Markets Act. Illegal here, illegal there. 4 years 4 months 17 days,” he responded, referring to the time Apple failed to comply with the first injunction.
“We will bring Fortnite back to the iOS App Store in the US next week,” the Epic boss added. He also offered a “peace proposal” to his rival: “If Apple extends the court’s frictionless, tax-free Apple framework worldwide, we will return Fortnite to the App Store worldwide and drop current and future litigation on the matter,” he said. A way of reaching out while putting the ball back in Apple's court, knowing full well that the latter will ignore his offer.
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