U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has upheld earlier federal court rulings related to Fortnite and Unreal Engine. In late September Apple and Epic Games returned to court to argue whether the popular battle royale game should be reinstated to the Apple App Store for iOS devices, and if a preliminary injunction protecting game development software Unreal Engine should be lifted.
Rogers ruled Friday that the court’s previous determinations on both would remain; Fortnite would continue to be banned from iOS devices and Epic would continue to be protected related to its developer status and Unreal Engine platform.
“In sum, the Court finds that based upon the record before it, the Winter factors weigh against granting a preliminary injunction based on Epic Games’ requests as to Fortnite and other games and in favor of granting a preliminary injunction order as the Epic Affiliates effected developer tools, including as to Unreal Engine,” the court’s ruling read.
Earlier in the week Rogers set a date for the Epic Games v. Apple antitrust lawsuit of May 3 and laid out various court filing deadlines and schedules.
The legal battle between Apple and Epic over Fortnite and in-app purchases began in August when the developer added a direct payment method for users to purchase in-game content that circumvented Apple’s built-in payment system. Apple called this a breach of contract, which led to the game being removed from the App Store, and then taking aim at Unreal Engine 4, Epic’s game development platform used by thousands of mobile games including PUBG Mobile and Peacekeeper Elite.
