Epic introduced a 20% discount for V-Bucks today for all platforms, including a way to directly purchase V-Bucks that would allow players to pay less money then they would for them if they purchased them through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. This apparently didn’t go over too well with Apple, because they have removed Fortnite from the App Store! If you already have Fortnite on your device, you can still play it normally, but if you didn’t have it on there previously, you will not have access to it currently.
Update: Well, that didn’t take too long. It looks like Epic has taken legal action against Apple:
Epic Games has filed legal papers in response to Apple, read more here: https://t.co/c4sgvxQUvb
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 13, 2020
Here’s part of the statement given by Apple regarding the situation that was given to The Verge:
Epic has clearly had issues with the way fees are being handled when purchases are made for virtual currency. They took a step that was great for players looking to get V-Bucks, but was against the App Store guidelines which made Apple decide to remove the app from the store for the time being. Epic has been outspoken against the 30 percent cut they take from developers in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
It is unclear what will happen now. Will Epic back off their stance or will Apple yield to Epic on the subject? This battle might be ongoing into the distant future, and could likely be taken to the courts at some point.
