In April, Apple got the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to rule mostly in its favor in its long legal fight against Epic Games. However, it apparently isn"t satisfied with the one thing in that appeal decision that didn"t go its way.
Reuters reports that Apple sent in a court filing that indicates it will take the battle with Epic to its final destination: The US Supreme Court. Apple intends to make that request to the SCOTUS by Friday.
Epic Games originally sued Apple in 2020, after Apple removed its hit game Fortnite from the iOS App Store. Apple made that move because Epic put in an in-app payment system that bypass Apple"s system. Epic claimed that Apple"s decision to ban that kind of setup was anti-competitive.
Both the lower court decision in 2021 and the appeals court ruling in 2023 went mostly in Apple"s favor. However, they also ruled in one aspect for Epic Games. The court stated that Apple cannot keep developers from using outside payment methods for apps that may take them out of the company"s app store.
Clearly, Apple doesn"t think this is a good idea. It is almost certain that Apple will try to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the decisions of the two lower courts and try to keep all in-app purchases in its app store.
Meanwhile, Fortnite, which is available for nearly all gaming platforms, has yet to return to iOS devices in a native form. The game is available to play for iPhone and iPad owners in an indirect way. Those gamers can play by using a cloud service including NVIDIA"s GeForce Now, Amazon"s Luna, and Microsoft"s Xbox Cloud Gaming via a web browser. If the US Supreme Court rules in favor of Epic, that might be the way for the game to finally return to the iOS app store.