Apple Should Bring 'Fortnite' Back On iPhone App Store, Says Epic Games, Armored With New South Korean Law

Epic Games wants to bring back its “Fortnite” game on to Apple Inc’s AAPL App Store after South Korea enacted a new law.

What Happened: Epic Games, tweeting through the Fortnight Twitter account, said it has asked Apple “to restore our Fortnite developer account.”

“Epic intends to re-release Fortnite on iOS in Korea offering both Epic payment and Apple payment side-by-side in compliance with the new Korean law.”

Why It Matters: Late last month, South Korean lawmakers passed a bill that effectively forbids tech-giants from charging commissions on in-app purchases in the country.

The law also bans companies such as Apple and Google parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG from “unreasonably” delaying approval of apps or deleting them from their marketplaces. 

Failure to comply could mean a fine of up to 3% of their South Korean revenue.

Shortly after, the Tim Cook-led company said it would forego its App Store cut on music, video, and other media apps that offer an in-app link that allows subscribers to sign up for the services.

While Apple’s updated in-app payment policy would apply to the offerings from the likes of Netflix Inc NFLX and Spotify Technology S.A. SPOT, these changes do not apply to in-app purchases related to gaming.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney derided Apple's efforts as insufficient.

Apple should open up iOS on the basis of hardware, stores, payments, and services each competing individually on their merits.

Instead, they're running a literally day-by-day recalculation of divide-and-conquer in hopes of getting away with most of their tying practices. https://t.co/2L9n7EvSo0

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 2, 2021

Fortnite was taken down from the App Store last year after Epic and Apple entered into a public disagreement over the latter’s in-app payment policies. Epic then proceeded to sue both Apple and Google over the issue.

Price Action: On Thursday, Apple shares closed nearly 0.7% lower at $154.07 in the regular session and rose 0.13% in the after-hours trading.

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