Epic says new Fortnite season won’t be released on Mac or iOS due to legal dispute with Apple

The battle between Epic Games and Apple over App Store guidelines will have a detrimental effect on the end user. Epic has confirmed today that it will not be released in the latest Fortnite season, Chapter 2: Season 4, for iOS and macOS gamers.

On the same day that Apple kicked Fortnite out of the App Store, Epic said that Fortnite on iPhone and iPad would likely miss out on future updates and content expansions. As first spotted by the Verge, Epic has now published a new FAQ section on its website with more details.

Epic explains that because Apple is blocking Fortnite from the App Store, and terminating its associated developer account, it will be unable to update Fortnite with new content on Mac, iPhone, or iPad. Fortnite’s Chapter 2: Season 4 update will be released on all other platforms tomorrow, August 27.

Epic also points out that Android users still have several options for playing Fortnite, even though it was also removed form the Google Play Store:

Apple is blocking Fortnite updates and new installs on the App Store, and has said they will terminate our ability to develop Fortnite for Apple devices. As a result, Fortnite’s newly released Chapter 2 — Season 4 update (v14.00), will not release on iOS and macOS on August 27.

If you still want to play Fortnite on Android, you can access the latest version of Fortnite from the Epic Games App for Android on Fortnite.com/Android or the Samsung Galaxy Store.

What’s important to keep in mind here is that Fortnite for Mac is not distributed via the Mac App Store. Presumably, the reason that Epic cannot release updates to the Mac version of the game is because Apple is terminating the Fortnite developer account. This means that Epic would be unable to notarize the Mac version of Fortnite. It could theoretically release an unsigned version of Fortnite for Mac, but Apple makes the installation process for such software rather difficult in newer macOS versions.

A judge ruled earlier this week that Apple is not required to allow Fortnite back on the App Store, but that Apple also cannot terminate developer accounts relating to Unreal Engine or other Epic properties. Apple can still terminate the developer account associated with Fortnite, which it has said it will do on August 28.

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