Epic CEO's reaction after Fortnite dominates on the App Store after 5-year legal battle: 'Priceless'
The popular game Fortnite is back on the US App Store after a 5-year legal battle with Apple, and Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney tells Business Insider it represents a "priceless" win for app makers everywhere.
While the game quickly shot to the top of the App Store's games rankings less than 24 hours after launching, its reappearance was years in the making — and costly for Epic, which makes the game. Sweeney previously told BI's Peter Kafka that his fight with Apple over in-app purchases has cost it more than $1 billion since 2020.
Prior to the legal feud, Apple's App Store rules required that Fortnite players — and all other iOS users — make in-app purchases exclusively through the App Store, where Apple takes up to a 30% cut of each transaction. In the summer of 2020, Epic intentionally broke these rules, prompting Apple to remove Fortnite from iPhones and iPads, which in turn sparked Epic's lawsuit.
In an email exchange with BI after Fortnite went live on the US App Store, we asked Sweeney if the protracted court battle and legal fees were worth it.
"Yes," he said. "These newly recognized freedoms are priceless."
"The freedoms developers have gained in the United States and Europe on iOS must be brought to the rest of the world," Sweeney told BI. "I hold out hope of Apple and Google doing that themselves, proactively, rather than being subject to waiting for different and potentially contradictory new laws to be passed around the world."
Epic Games is in a similar legal battle with Google over its app store rules.
Fortnite is BACK on the App Store in the U.S. on iPhones and iPads... and on the Epic Games Store and AltStore in the E.U! It'll show up in Search soon!
Get Fortnite on the App Store in the U.S. ➡️ https://t.co/HQu3pYCXFm pic.twitter.com/w74QPFFkOS
— Fortnite (@Fortnite) May 20, 2025
The US App Store approval came after US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers scheduled a May 27 hearing to address what Epic said was Apple's noncompliance with a prior injunction, questioning Apple's delay in approving Epic Games' May 9 submission for Fortnite's return to the US App Store.
A representative for Epic Games declined to comment further. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider. The company has previously said its App Store rules regarding payments help ensure the safety of its users.
Asked about the latest on his legal battle with Apple, Sweeney said it's ongoing.
"Apple is appealing the Court's anti-steering injunction enforcement ruling made in 2025 but the Court's ruling hasn't been stayed and appeal briefings will run through August 18," he said.
Spotify, Microsoft, and others backed Epic's opposition to Apple's motion to stay the court's ruling in amicus briefs filed this week, arguing that Apple's compliance with the order is beneficial to both developers and consumers.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Digital Trends
2 hours ago
- Digital Trends
The best part of macOS Tahoe is it feels more like an iPhone than ever
It's been over a week since Apple dropped the first developer preview of macOS Tahoe. Most of the chatter is centered around the glass-inspired design makeover, and deservedly so. For me, Spotlight upgrades, especially the Quick Keys system, have been the standout element. Yet, as I delved deeper and pushed it as my workhorse computing platform, despite all the bugs and performance snags, I have come to realize that it feels like home. And by that, I mean closer to the iPhone's native feel than expected. Recommended Videos And it's not solely due to the aesthetic uniformity, but owing to the functional changes. Apple didn't only carry over system functionalities, but also some of the iPhone's defining apps. The Phone app, for example, is one of them. And it's not a half-hearted attempt either. From computing to communication When Apple first enabled iPhone mirroring on macOS, it was a huge sigh of relief. Of course, being able to access all my chats scattered across WhatsApp, Discord, Telegram, and Slack — right on my Mac was a huge convenience. But more than the ease aspect, it was the freedom from checking my phone that came as the real liberator. At the end of the day, however, it's still mirroring, and not something native to the Mac. Alerts for calls still came as a tethered notification, not natively. With macOS Tahoe, Apple is finally bridging the gap, thanks to the Phone app's arrival on Macs. We're talking about the full package here. You get access to a familiar dialer, the recents list, and access to voicemails. I tried it a few times, and the whole telephony experience worked just fine on my M4 MacBook Air, while my iPhone 16 Pro lay comfortably resting in my backpack. Of course, make sure you're connected to earbuds while engaged in Mac calls. Leaning and speaking into your MacBook is a terrible sight. Trust me. I tried it and got a few odd looks in a coffee shop. And if you need more convincing, read this fantastic piece on why you should invest in a pair of earbuds, even if it's the cheapest pair on the market. What surprised me, however, was that even the next-gen calling features that have only arrived with iOS 26 are also being ported over to the macOS experience. I recently wrote how Apple is falling far behind Android when it comes to safety features such as scam detection and spam blocking. This year, Apple finally made some strides as it brought Call Screening and Hold Assist to iPhones. Both these features are available in the Phone app running on Macs, with macOS Tahoe. I also love how Apple has offered a less-distracting way to handle calls, one where the video call window doesn't occupy the whole screen and neatly slots in a small preview window alongside the top edge. And yeah, the painstakingly designed contact posters are here to stay, as well. Seamless transition, at last Carrying over the hot streak built atop the Phone app, Apple is also porting over the full text and video calling experience from iOS 26 to macOS Tahoe, thanks to the Apple Intelligence stack. In Messages, users can take advantage of Live Translation, while live captions will be available for FaceTime sessions. A similar translation facility will be accessible within the Phone app, too. But there's more to the mobile-inspired conveniences in macOS than meets the eye. Live activities are one of my favorite iPhone features, but to access them, I have to keep an eye on my iPhone. Needless to say, it's not the most productive act. Thankfully, Apple finally paid attention to the conundrum and has decided to import Live Activities in macOS Tahoe. From food delivery alerts to live score updates, if they land on your iPhone's screen, you will see them in the Menu Bar of your Mac. The best part? You can interact with these live activity alerts on your Mac. When you click on them, they open the iPhone Mirroring experience so that you can see them in the exact way they are intended to appear on iOS. From there, you can choose to close them, minimize them, or execute whatever action you deem fit. I love this actionable live activity update, but what I am more excited to see is Apple paying attention to the Menu Bar. So far, the company has ignored the humble Menu Bar, while the developer community has built some fantastic utilities such as Maccy and Antinote that live in the Menu Bar. A few smaller tweaks So far, the control center on Macs has felt like a rigid pool of preset tools. With the arrival of macOS Tahoe, Apple has given it the iPhone treatment. Not only can you customize the entire dashboard with quick access tools of your choice, but you can also do it using a simple drag-and-drop gesture. On a similar note, the lock screen customizations also borrow the core design ideas from iOS 18. Even the icon theming and tinting system is now identical to how you make aesthetic adjustments on your iPhone. The Journal app has also made its way to the Mac, while the redesigned Photos app makes it easier to handle the gallery using filtering and sorting tools. Overall, it is pretty evident that harmony was the overarching theme with Apple's OS updates, both in form and function. Some of the changes in macOS Tahoe may appear a bit divisive, but everything feels just a bit more familiar from an iPhone user's perspective, which is a fantastic strategy for onboarding more people into the ecosystem while keeping the existing user base locked in.
Forbes
3 hours ago
- Forbes
Samsung Offers Apple An iPhone 17 Air Warning
amsung Galaxy S25 Edge is displayed at Samsung Gangnam in Seoul, South Korea (Photo by Hwawon ... More Lee/Anadolu via Getty Images) Samsung's high-profile launch of its thin handset, the Galaxy S25 Edge, has pushed thin form factors to the foreground of 2025's smartphone market. With the upcoming launch of the iPhone 17 Air, Apple will offer its own blessing to this design ethos. Yet Samsung's leading role in this space holds a warning to all who enter it, including Apple. Thin designs may be in, but they're not as popular as expected. Galaxy S25 Edge Sales Reflect iPhone 17 Air Potential? Following the first rush of sales, primarily in its home territory of South Korea, demand for the Galaxy S25 Edge has dropped away. This is beyond the expected drop in interest after the fans pick up the shiny new form. It goes right up to Samsung cutting the planned production run short. Mihai Matei reports for SamMobile; "Because the Galaxy S25 Edge underperformed, Samsung has reportedly lowered the number of Edge units it initially planned to produce this month. 'Considerably lowered,' to be more precise, although no exact production figures were revealed." In which case, where can Samsung, and shortly Apple, find value in the ultra-fashionable smartphones that sacrifice battery life, performance, and camera hardware for fewer millimetres than the standard? iPhone 17 Air's Benefactors The Galaxy S25 Edge does feed directly into another of Samsung's key smartphone form factors, namely the folding smartphone. Both the book-style hinge of the Galaxy Z Fold series and the fliphone format of the Galaxy Z Flip look for both sides to be as thin as possible to ensure that the folded phones come in at a reasonable size when closed. The Galax S25 Edge will have used much of that technology, but will also be feeding back its design lessons to the foldable design team. Of course, Apple has its own thin products; no doubt, the techniques used in the iPhone 17 Air will make their way over to the premium iPads and the various MacBook laptops. And its eternal quest to offer 'the thinnest iPhone ever' will see the 17 Air design cues passed to the iPhone 18 family in 2026. So there's little in the hardware of the iPhone 17 Air that will be wasted over the long term. Like every smartphone manufacturer, there's a need for a luxurious handset which showcases technological prowess without necessarily being the keystone of the range. iPhone 17 Air's Marketing Message Samsung managed the latter with the Galaxy S25 Edge, yet its target was still too high. The market demand for a thin handset looks to be softer than expected. I'm sure that the iPhone 17 Air is going to get a lot of press, a lot of time on stage, a lot of favorable press, and countless influencer videos on the value and the style of the design. And with all the market signs coming in now, I'm also sure that the 17 Air will not be breaking any sales records when it arrives in September. Now read the latest iPhone 17 Air, iOS and MacBook headlines in Forbes' weekly Apple news digest...
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘F1' Review: Brad Pitt Speeds His Way Through a Solid Summer Blockbuster That Never Reaches Top Gear
In a clever flex of corporate synergy, Apple promoted its first summer blockbuster with the release of a haptic trailer that imitates the purr of an F1 engine in the palms of your hands. The clip delivers such well-calibrated vibrations that watching it on an iPhone makes it seem like you're microdosing 4DX right on the subway, or the toilet, or wherever it is you choose to enjoy the film industry's latest breakthrough in vertical integration. But the real potency of this ad, and the real potential of the technology that it represents, can only be experienced by viewing the promo on mute — the haptic feedback is so nuanced and expressive that you can literally feel the basic plot and emotions of Joseph Kosinski's 'F1' through your fingertips. It's the closest thing to 'pure cinema' I've ever enjoyed on a device that I primarily use for playing Marvel Snap and Googling answers to my five-year-old son's trivia questions (yes, a rhino could outrun Usain Bolt). More from IndieWire How Two Weddings Altered the Course of Modern Love in Celine Song's 'Materialists' 'The Waterfront' Review: Netflix's Sludgy Family Crime Drama Is a Shallow Reflection of Better Shows How disappointing, then, that the film itself manages to offer so little of the same thrill, despite the benefit of booming Dolby speakers, the scale of an IMAX screen, and the sleekness of a director whose aesthetic naturally cleaves towards Apple commercials (see: 'Oblivion'). That's certainly not for lack of trying. Determined to bring the same you are there verisimilitude to race cars that they did to fighter jets in 'Top Gun: Maverick,' Kosinski, cinematographer Claudio Miranda, and superproducer Jerry Bruckheimer have gone to extraordinary lengths to capture the essence of F1 — lengths that include turning Brad Pitt and co-star Damson Idris into legit Grand Prix drivers, attaching hi-def micro-cameras to the frames of their vehicles as the actors whipped around the world's most famous tracks, and filming at the actual events that are depicted in the movie. Not only was the fictional APXGP team granted its own garage right between Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes, but the pre-race party Idris' character attends before the tour's Las Vegas pitstop is even hosted by the real DJ Tiësto! 'F1' is far too sincere in its crowd-pleasing ambitions to feel like a fully licensed piece of $200 million sponcon, but the movie's commitment to authenticity extends to every aspect of its titular sport, both on the track and off, as its mission to win over new converts is only outdone by its eagerness to satisfy diehard fans. Alas, Formula One has always been a testament to the difficulty of striking the right balance between power and precision, and 'F1' embodies that aspect of the sport all too well. Always entertaining for how effectively it welds hyper-modern spectacle to the chassis of a classic underdog story (the latter part of that equation paving the way for Pitt's most Billy Bean-coded performance since 'Moneyball'), Kosinski's film can be propulsive and exhilarating in spurts, but in working so hard to satisfy newbies and experts at the same time that it often struggles to seize on its simplest pleasures. Misfits becoming teammates. Losers finding redemption. Cars going really, really fast. All of these things are key parts of the mix, but for a movie so preoccupied with the difference between sound and noise (what's relevant to a racer at 200 M.P.H. vs. what they need to tune out), 'F1' often fails to lock in on what really matters to its defining moments — a frustration that's reflected in everything from character arcs and backstories to shot selections and the incessant use of broadcast-like color commentaries. Your whole body will vibrate for the better part of this film's speedy 156-minute running time, and few other blockbusters this summer will be more fun to experience at a level of volume that you can't get at home, but loudness is a sad consolation prize for a movie whose own trailer didn't need any sound at all to better capture the flow state that its protagonist lives to chase. Sonny Hayes (Pitt) hasn't enjoyed the most storied of professional racing careers, but you can tell from his name alone — a perfect movie name — that he was born to be in the driver's seat, and that he doesn't belong anywhere else. A future star of the F1 circuit until a devastating 1993 crash turned him from a 'will be' to a 'never was,' Sonny has spent the last 30 years as a wandering samurai who's taken any job that came attached to a pair of wheels, from a stock car racer to a New York City cab driver. Somewhere between a stoic Western archetype and a shit-eating myth, he lives in a van where he can suffer hotly in peace. The money never mattered to Sonny (he only needed enough to support his gambling addiction), and winning has always been little more than a means to an end — the shortest path to the self-actualization that he gets from being one with the road. Except, three decades of feeling like a loser seems to have taken its toll, and the first thing he tells his Daytona teammate in the film's opening scene is that he'll kill him if the guy blows their lead. This is as much insight as we'll ever get into the tao of Sonny, but it's enough to understand why he hesitates when his old racing buddy Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), now the desperate owner of the worst team on the F1 circuit, shows up with an unprecedented offer for a washed-up 60-year-old nobody: Become the not-so-new face of APXGP and save what's left of their season so that Ruben doesn't lose the company. It's a hail Mary, and Sonny isn't sure the risk of embarrassment is worth the paycheck that comes with it, but he can't turn down the chance at the glory that once got away from him and/or the chance to drive the world's fastest cars. And so, before we even get to the title card, Ehren Kruger's sleek and sturdy script has already put the story's foundation in place. All that's left is for Sonny to spar with APXGP's hotshot rookie driver (an instantly compelling Idris as cocky London native Joshua Pearce, all flash to Sonny's zen-like calm), make eyes at the sport's first female technical director (the ever-appealing Kerry Condon, squeezing worlds of personality out of a human plot device), and learn to get out of his own way as he comes to appreciate that F1 is a team sport. A few other bits take shape in the margins, including a garbled subplot involving Tobias Menzies as a techbro financier and some 'Ted Lasso'-adjacent hijinks with APXGP's winsome pit crew (unrelated to 'Lasso' alum Sarah Niles' performance as Joshua's mom), but 'F1' is generally as straightforward and predictable as any of the nine different tracks that Sonny zooms around over the course of the film. In theory that should work to the benefit of this vintage Bruckheimer vehicle, and occasionally it does. The simplicity of the film's story makes it easier for Kosinski to accommodate the arcane nature of F1's rules, even if he never finds a satisfying way to incorporate them on the fly, and — similar to Kruger's script for 'Maverick' — the lack of a clear villain for most of the movie allows the focus to remain squarely on the main characters, who are racing against each other and themselves to a much greater degree than they are any of the drivers from rival teams. But where 'Maverick' was able to support that focus with decades of baked-in pathos, 'F1' is forced to rely on the ample charms of its cast. While no one will ever get bored watching Pitt and Idris push each other's buttons, there isn't exactly a world of depth behind Sonny's leathered renegade schtick (it's a bit tiresome how many times he races outside the lines without alerting the rest of his team), just as the complexities of Joseph's arrogance are mostly hidden in the folds of Idris' performance. More frustrating is that the actual racing sequences are less expressive than the dialogue scenes. While the realism of the film's grand prix events is obviously second to none (silly as some of Sonny's rule-skirting gambits can be), and Kosinski has a proven track record of making speed look even cooler in the movies than it does in real life, 'F1' makes the mistake of trying to reconcile the experience of driving Formula One with the experience of watching it on TV. The most obvious symptom of that is the aforementioned broadcast commentary, which narrates literally everything that happens during the races. In large part, that's a necessary evil of a film that has to explain how placing, safety cars, and tire grades work to an audience of neophytes in real-time. But in order to disguise the expository function of the commentary and affirm the authenticity of the average fan's F1 experience (which is to say: enjoying the races from their couch rather than the stands), the narration is also prone to saying things like 'Sonny has fallen to last place! That's not going to make AXPGP happy.' On TV, that sort of color helps confer a narrative onto unconstructed reality. In the context of this movie, it crushes the reality out of a constructed narrative. The driver's seat of an F1 car is pretty small to begin with, and Kosinski's film — which constantly defaults to a 'Star Wars'-like cockpit shot in order to show us Sonny's face while proving that Pitt is actually behind the wheel — leaves viewers precious little space to engage with the film's characters on their own terms. The emotional impact is so blunted that our only choice is to surrender to the booming spectacle of it all (Hans Zimmer, take the wheel), but even that proves difficult in a film that never quite solves how to handle the sameness of a 44-lap race. Kosinski is limited to 15 camera positions on each car, few of which capture anything more than wheel-to-wheel intensity, and he compensates for that lack of choice by restlessly cutting between them. It's as if the film is trying to reflect Sonny's agitated pursuit of clarity amid the chaos (a suspicion that's strengthened by subtle changes in the editing towards the end), and every merciful retreat to a top-down angle feels like a concession to the fact that Kosinski hasn't found a more satisfying way to shoot F1 than they do on TV. The action is hardly dull, but the sheer disconnect between the wowee zowee immediacy of the race footage and the mezzo mezzo excitement it inspires suggests that tuning out the noise isn't as easy as Sonny Hayes might seem to think. 'Sometimes when you lose, you win,' Ruben tells his old friend. And sometimes when you win, this solid but underwhelming blockbuster contends, you still lose. Apple Original Films and Warner Bros. Studios will release 'F1' in theaters on Friday, June 27. Want to stay up to date on IndieWire's film and critical thoughts? to our newly launched newsletter, In Review by David Ehrlich, in which our Chief Film Critic and Head Reviews Editor rounds up the best new reviews and streaming picks along with some exclusive musings — all only available to subscribers. Best of IndieWire The 25 Best Alfred Hitchcock Movies, Ranked Every IndieWire TV Review from 2020, Ranked by Grade from Best to Worst
