Epic Games has been waiting for Apple to approve Fortnite for the US iOS App Store for nearly a week, and now Epic CEO Tim Sweeney is using X to try and put pressure on Apple. On Thursday, he highlighted examples of Fortnite lookalikes that are currently on the App Store and made a direct appeal to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
In one post, Sweeney included screenshots of the App Store listing for a game called Fort Battle Royale Epic Shoot. A screenshot in the app listing shows a game with Fortnite-inspired graphics, but it’s clear if you look closely that it isn’t the real Fortnite. “Hey @AppStore can we get the real Fortnite up pls?” Sweeney asked.
Soon after, Sweeney said that Fort Battle Royale Epic Shoot had been taken down from the App Store but also highlighted another Fortnite clone, Epic Survival Battle Royale 3D. That app, as of this writing, is still available on the App Store. (Apple has something of a history of letting unofficial fakes of popular games slip onto the store.)
Sweeney also replied to a post Cook made earlier in the day. “Hi Tim. How about if you let our mutual customers access Fortnite? Just a thought,” Sweeney wrote.
Shortly after the April 30th ruling in Epic Games v. Apple that blocked Apple from charging a fee on purchases made outside the App Store, Sweeney announced that Epic would bring Fortnite back to the US iOS App Store “next week.”
Epic said it submitted Fortnite to Apple on Friday, May 9th, but the app hasn’t yet been approved. (Apple’s website says that “on average, 90 percent of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours.”)
Sweeney said yesterday that the company submitted a new version because “we need to release a weekly Fortnite update with new content this Friday, and all platforms must update simultaneously.” But that updated submission still hasn’t been approved, either.
“We don’t have an update on our Fortnite submission to the App Store,” Sweeney said earlier on Thursday. “Apple has neither accepted nor rejected it. So the Friday update to Fortnite is now in jeopardy.”
It’s unclear if that last sentence means that Epic plans to delay the planned Friday Fortnite update for all platforms where Fortnite is available as a result of Apple not yet approving the update.
Apple and Epic Games didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
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