Epic Games’ “Fortnite” video game was not available on Apple’s AAPL.O iPhone devices in the European Union and the United States on Friday.
Access to Fortnite via Apple’s iPhone Operating System and through its App Store will be unavailable worldwide until Apple unblocks it, Epic Games said.
Epic Games did not give a reason why Fortnite was blocked, but Apple said it had asked Epic Sweden to resubmit the app update without including the U.S. storefront so as not to impact Fortnite in other geographies.
Epic, a U.S.-based studio, backed by China’s Tencent 0700.HK, is the world’s largest game studio. It was launched in 2017 and its last-player-standing, “battle royale” format became an instant hit, drawing millions of players.
Since 2020, however, it has been in a legal battle with Apple, after the gaming firm alleged that Apple’s practice of charging a commission of up to 30% on in-app payments violated U.S. antitrust rules.
