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If Apple does not resolve its stalemate with Epic Games by May 27, it will face a court for refusing to return Fortnite to the US App Store.
Epic's CEO stated three weeks ago that the company's main game would be resubmitted to the App Store following a nearly five-year court battle. However, Apple is not cooperating as it fights the most recent court verdict against it.
"Apple is fully capable of resolving this issue without further briefing or a hearing," US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of Oakland, California, said in an order Monday, adding that if she is compelled to intervene, an Apple executive must come before her.
The firms have been at odds since 2020, all the way to the United States Supreme Court, over App Store developer fees and other restrictions at Apple's software store. More than a billion iPhone and iPad owners lost access to the Fortnite software when Apple removed it from its store.
Epic declined to comment, and an Apple spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.
While Gonzalez Rogers did not directly state that the app must be reinstalled, there are likely no options that would satisfy the court. She gave Apple till Wednesday to determine which of its executives would be "fully prepared to answer any questions on the topic." The App Store is led by CEO Phil Schiller, although the company also has a commercial team led by Carson Oliver and an app review team led by Trystan Kosmynka.
Gonzalez Rogers gave Apple a huge defeat on April 30 when she declared that the iPhone company breached a 2021 ruling by not allowing third-party payment choices in the App Store and must cease collecting commissions on transactions made outside of its marketplace.
Apple has asked an appeals court to put the verdict on hold while it is challenged.
On Friday, Epic accused Apple of deleting Fortnite from third-party stores in the European Union. Apple denied the allegation.
Gonzalez Rogers stated in her April 30 order that an Apple executive lied under oath, and she directed the matter to federal prosecutors to examine if Apple committed criminal contempt of court by violating her 2021 ruling.
Epic Games Inc. v. Apple Inc. (20-cv-05640), US District Court, Northern District of California (Oakland).
