This illustration picture shows a person waiting for an update of Epic Games’ Fortnite on their smartphone in Los Angeles on August 14, 2020.
Chris Delmas | AFP | Getty Images
Apple must work out its latest issues with Epic Games, or head back to court to prove it has a legal basis for delaying the restoration of the popular Fortnite game to its iOS App Store, a judge ordered on Monday.
Fortnite recently re-submitted its game but was blocked by Apple, Epic Games said Friday. The company later filed a motion to enforce the earlier injunction from the court.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers wrote in the Monday order that “Apple is fully capable of resolving this issue without further briefing or a hearing.”
If the companies do not resolve the current conflict on their own, the judge wrote, “the Apple official who is personally responsible for ensuring compliance shall personally appear” at a forthcoming hearing in the Northern District of California scheduled for May 27.
Apple said in a statement on Friday that it did not remove Fortnite from alternative distribution marketplaces.
CNBC has reached out to Apple and Epic Games for comment.
On Monday, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said in a post on X that “Apple didn’t accept or reject our Fortnite submission. They simply said they were going to ignore it until after the 9th Circuit Court rules on their stay request, which would be in late May or June.”
In the Monday order, Rogers said that after 12 days, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has still not granted Apple a stay of the injunction.
“Briefing shall occur on the schedule listed below and shall include the legal authority upon which Apple contends that it can ignore this Court’s order,” the judge wrote.
Apple originally removed Fortnite from its app store in 2020, and terminated Epic Games’ U.S. app store account after the developer had used a direct payment technology in its game, which Apple did not allow.
That removal kicked off a legal dispute between Epic Games and Apple, which was originally decided in 2021, concerning the iPhone maker’s platform and the way it pays out to and limits app developers.
While Apple prevailed, the decision forced the company to implement limited changes to its linking-out policy under California law.
Rogers ruled in late April that Apple Vice President of Finance Alex Roman lied to the court about when Apple decided to collect a 27% fee on some purchases outside the App Store. Under her ruling in the case, it was expected that off-app purchases would not have a cut for Apple.
Apple said it would appeal.
Since that ruling, Spotify and Amazon Kindle have re-submitted their apps to allow for customer purchases outside of the App Store. Apple has already approved those apps.
CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this article.
