Fortnite Returns to Apple's App Store in Australia After Court Ruling Against Apple

Epic Games announced that Fortnite, its shooter game, will be available again on Apple's App Store in Australia on Thursday. The return follows a ruling by an Australian federal court, which found that Apple violated competition law and ordered the iPhone maker to open up its iOS operating system.

The announcement comes from Epic, the game's developer, and it marks a change in a dispute over who controls what can run on Apple's devices. The court's order is aimed at iOS itself, the system that governs the software on iPhones, rather than at any single game. Fortnite's return to the Australian store is the first visible consequence the source describes.

Apple did not accept the outcome quietly. The company said it disagrees with many of the court's findings and intends to challenge them. An Apple spokesperson told Reuters that the company will request a stay and appeal the result, seeking a resolution that respects its intellectual property and protects what the spokesperson called the safe, secure experience that consumers and developers expect from the App Store.

That statement sets out the two positions plainly. Epic, and the court as described in the report, treat Apple's control over iOS as a breach of competition law. Apple frames the same control as a matter of protecting its intellectual property and keeping the App Store secure for the people who use it and build for it.

The practical picture is therefore unsettled. A stay, if Apple obtains one, would pause the effect of the court's order while the appeal proceeds. The source does not say whether Apple has yet filed that request, how the court might respond, or what specific changes to iOS the order requires and on what timetable. Those details are not in the report, and the long-term reach of the ruling depends on them.

What can be said is narrower. Fortnite is due back on Apple's Australian App Store on Thursday, a federal court has found Apple in violation of competition law, and Apple has said it will seek a stay and appeal. The next thing to watch is whether the court grants that stay, and whether the game remains on the store while the appeal plays out.

The report was filed by Rhea Rose Abraham in Bengaluru, with editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar and Sherry Jacob-Phillips.