UK Court Blocks Epic Games From Contesting Apple’s Fortnite Ban

The UK’s antitrust tribunal ruled on Monday, February 22, that Epic Games, the creator of popular game Fortnite, will not be allowed to pursue its case against Apple in the United Kingdom over its App Store payment system and control over app downloads, reported Reuters. 

The two companies have been at loggerheads since August, when the game maker tried to avoid Apple’s 30% fee on the App Store by launching its own in-app payment system, which led to Apple’s subsequent ban of Fortnite from its store.

The UK tribunal said Epic’s suit against Alphabet Inc’s Google could move forward, but deemed that the United States would be a better forum for its case against Apple.

“Epic will reconsider pursuing its case against Apple in the UK after the resolution of the U.S. case,” the video game company said in a statement in response to the tribunal’s ruling.

In October, a federal judge in California ruled in an injunction request that Apple could bar the Fortnite game from its App Store but must not harm Epic’s developer tools business, which includes the “Unreal Engine” software used by hundreds of other video games.

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