Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, the visionary behind Fortnite, has waged a prolonged and expensive legal war against Apple over its App Store policies.

The battle has been ongoing since 2020. And it reached a major turning point last week when a judge ruled in favor of Epic’s claims that Apple violated a court order related to its anti-steering App Store rules. 

Tim Sweeney has a Five-Year Legal Battle 

Apple isn’t backing down — the company filed an appeal on May 5 that could determine the long-term impact of this ruling.

Epic's hope is clear: to bring Fortnite back to iPhones across the United States.

“This is really one of the issues at the heart of our digital freedoms for the future,” said Sweeney. “We live our lives on our smartphones... So, the freedom for consumers and developers to do business together is of paramount importance.”

What Sparked the Clash: Anti-Steering and App Store Fees

At the heart of the dispute is Apple’s policy of restricting developers from steering users to alternative payment methods outside the App Store, where Apple collects up to 30% in commission fees.

In 2021, a federal judge ruled that Apple must allow developers to direct users to external payment options — a decision that would have weakened Apple's control over in-app purchases.

Epic Games later revived the case, alleging that Apple had failed to comply with that order. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers sided with Epic, ruling that Apple was in contempt of court for not fully implementing the changes.

In a scathing decision, the judge found that Apple’s Vice President of Finance, Alex Roman, had lied under oath and referred the matter to federal prosecutors for potential criminal investigation. Additionally, Apple was sanctioned for misusing attorney-client privilege to delay the proceedings.

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A Costly but Purposeful Fight

The financial toll of the lawsuit has been staggering for Epic Games.

“Epic Games has paid legal bills in excess of $100 million,” Sweeney told Business Insider. “But if you look at lost revenue, that’s another story.”

Between 2018 and 2020, Fortnite generated about $300 million on iOS alone. Epic estimates the total losses from the dispute, including lost user engagement and other indirect impacts, could exceed $1 billion.

“You could have projected hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue,” Sweeney added. “One could easily imagine that the total cost to Epic Games was a billion dollars or more.”

Despite these losses, Sweeney views the battle as a necessary stand against monopolistic practices:

“If you have one monopoly gatekeeper who dictates what people are allowed to play, see, hear — and takes exorbitant fees from every transaction... we’re going to have a much less free world than the one that we grew up in.”

Apple’s Contempt Ruling and Appeal

Just last week, the court ruled that Apple must immediately allow U.S. developers to add external purchase links in their apps.

Apple is forbidden from charging commissions on those external transactions and cannot control the design of the links or buttons developers choose.

Read the full story on The Verge

However, Apple filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week.

If the appeal is successful, it could reinstate the very restrictions Epic fought to remove. For now, developers have scored a victory — one made possible by Epic’s persistence and deep pockets.

More details on MacRumors
Business Insider coverage via MSN

Fortnite’s Return and the Future of App Markets

Sweeney announced that Fortnite will return to the U.S. iOS App Store later this week — not via Apple’s U.S. developer program, which banned Epic, but through a Swedish developer account still under Epic’s control.

“I’d be very surprised if Apple decided to brave the geopolitical storm of blocking a major app from iOS,” said Sweeney. He added that Epic has already informed Apple of its intent to resubmit the game.

Epic isn’t stopping there. Later in 2025, the company plans to launch Epic Games Store Webshops, allowing developers to create their digital storefronts hosted by Epic.

Webshops will be free for developers earning under $1 million per app annually, while Epic will collect a 12% fee from larger developers.

A Broader Win for Developers

While Epic technically lost on the monopoly claim — the court did not find that Apple had violated antitrust laws — the company did force Apple to loosen its grip on App Store payment policies.

Sweeney believes the implications go far beyond one game or one company:

“We work on [smartphones]. We play on them. And our futures are going to be ever more connected there,” he said. “This fight is about the future of our digital lives.”