NEWS: Apple does not have to bring back Fortnite

Epic Games has once again failed to compel judges to have Fortnite put back in the Apple App Store.

The video game maker is continuing to pressure its antitrust claims against the iPhone maker, alleging that Apple runs an app store monopoly. This has been an ongoing battle since August this year when Epic Games set up a direct-pay option for in-game purchases that circumvented Apple’s pay system which resulted in Apple removing the game from the app store.

Apple cannot cut Epic out of the developer program but the judge ruled against allowing Epic to circumvent the rules it agreed to when putting its game on the app store.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said she is unwilling to tilt the playing field in favour of any party due to the magnitude of the issues raised in the lawsuit concerning competition in digital marketplaces.

“This matter presents questions at the frontier edges of antitrust law in the United States,” Rogers said. “Simply put, no analogous authority exists. The questions and issues raised in this litigation concern novel and innovative business practices in the technology market that have not otherwise been the subject of antitrust litigation.”

The judge pointed out that the current situation that Epic is in was brought about by…