Apple is blocked from blocking Epic Games' Unreal Engine

Last night (24) a district court denied the provisional (temporary) measure of Epic Games to return with Fortnite on the App Store (iOS). However, it was also decided that Apple will not be able to block the game developer's ability to provide and distribute the Unreal Engine to game developers for iPhones and iPads.

During the trial, it was decided by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers that Apple will not be obliged to return the Fortnite game to the App Store (understand the reason for the withdrawal of the game here). Yvonne says:

"The Court concluded that, with respect to Epic Games' motion with respect to its games, including Fortnite, Epic Games has not yet demonstrated irreparable harm. The current situation appears to be of its own making. Epic Games has strategically chosen to breach its agreements with Apple."

In order to keep the balance, the judge ended up ruling that the use of the Unreal Engine cannot be cut in the iOS development tools by Apple. Yvonne says:

"Apple who chose to act harshly."

This attempted hacking action by Unreal Engine would impact applications from other developers, in addition to the reputation of Epic Games, which is the developer of the graphics engine. The judge added:

"Epic Games and Apple are free to litigate with each other, but their dispute must not wreak havoc on viewers."

Yvonne agreed with Epic Games about the "significant potential damage to the Unreal Engine platform itself and to the gaming industry at large", and said there was no way Apple could deny that Epic would not be harmed if Unreal's developers Engine to abandon their game projects due to Epic's lack of support on Apple's platforms.

It is not yet known when the outcome of this process by Epic Games and Apple will be decided, but it is believed that it will not be this year.

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