The ongoing saga of Epic Games vs. Apple will head to the courts early next year.
The trial date has been set for May 3, 2021, according to industry analyst Daniel Ahmad. Ahmad said the focus of the case “will be on Apple as a monopoly over app distribution, forcing 30 percent cut.”
At the beginning of August, Epic challenged Apple’s 30-percent cut on any purchase made on the App Store. Apple responded by removing Fortnite from the store and soon shut down access to the game.
If an iOS user updates to iOS 14, for example, they lose the ability to access the game at all. It can no longer be downloaded, so some phones with the game installed are being sold on eBay.
IOS users haven’t been able to access Fortnite since the end of August. With a court date now set for nearly seven months from now, a solution for those looking to play on an iPhone or iPad likely won’t be coming any time soon.
Fortnite’s newest season launched at the end of August with a Marvel theme. Epic likely lost quite a bit of revenue from the huge player base on the mobile platform that was unable to purchase access.