Epic Games won a temporary restraining order against Apple — but it wasn’t enough to put Fortnite back on the App Store for now.
Shortly after the two companies appeared in a virtual court hearing for their ongoing App Store dispute, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers concluded that Apple’s action to restrict Epic Games’ access to supporting Unreal Engine was “retaliatory” and “poses potential significant damage to both the platform itself and to the gaming industry generally.”
“Apple has chosen to act severely, and by doing so, has impacted non-parties, and a third-party developer ecosystem. In this regard, the equities do weigh against Apple,” Rogers wrote in the court order.
But Epic Games’ request for a restraining order to restore Fortnite to the App Store was denied.
The Fortnite ban, Judge Rogers said, was Epic Games’ own fault, as it was a “strategically and calculated move to breach” Apple’s policies. Judge Rogers suggested that Epic Games flip the switch to the way it was on August 3rd and “return everybody back to where they were.”
“The court finds that with respect to Epic Games’ motion as to its games, including Fortnite, Epic Games has not yet demonstrated irreparable harm. The current predicament appears of its own making,” she added.
So while Epic Games will be, for now, allowed to continue work on its gaming platform, Unreal Engine, Fortnite won’t return to the iOS App Store until Epic reverts the new payment system that was designed to sidestep Apple’s App Store tax.
Rogers primarily dismissed Apple’s move to hamper Epic’s access to Unreal Engine on the basis of the fact that it creates “havoc to bystanders” which in this case are third-party game developers. Last week, Microsoft, which employs Unreal Engine for its mobile racing title Forza Street, released a statement expressing support for Epic Games.
Apple’s attorney hit back claiming that down the road, Epic may transfer such “misconduct” to its other entities like Unreal Engine as well. Epic Games, in its defense, argued that Apple’s clampdown is already damaging Unreal Engine’s business as developers have begun fleeing the platform.
We’ve reached out to Apple and Epic Games for further comment and we’ll update the story when we hear back.
It’s worth noting that this hearing was a preliminary one intended to restore balance temporarily until the court can gather data and go through more detailed arguments from the parties, which they’re expected to file within the next few weeks. The next court hearing is scheduled for September 28.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.