Epic Games just got unbanned by Apple — again

After all, Epic Games will be permitted to launch its iOS app store within the EU. After receiving a question from the European Commission, Apple earlier this week terminated the game publisher’s developer license. However, Epic Games now claims that Apple has changed its mind.

Apple has “committed to the European Commission that they will reinstate our developer account,” according to a website update from Epic Games. “Going forward as planned to launch the Epic Games Store and bring Fortnite back to iOS in Europe,” the business says today.

Apple emailed The Verge to confirm the decision. A representative for Apple, Fred Sainz, stated, “After speaking with Epic, they have promised to abide by the rules, including our [Digital Markets Act] policies.” Epic Sweden AB has been approved to re-sign the developer agreement and is now a member of the Apple Developer Program as a result.

The rescinding of Epic’s developer license is being attributed to the European Commission. Commissioner Thierry Breton states in an X post that he is “satisfied that, as a result of our contacts, Apple decided to revoke its decision on Epic exclusion.”

Epic revealed on Wednesday that, following Fortnite’s departure from iOS in 2020, the game publisher eventually received its developer license back, but that Apple had revoked it. Apple terminated its agreement with Epic Games after the CEO referred to the company’s proposed revisions to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) as “hot garbage.” Soon after, EU officials started investigating why Apple had banned Epic’s developer account and if it had adhered with the related Digital Services Act.

“The DMA recently experienced its first significant triumph, and the DMA faced its first significant setback when Apple prohibited Epic Games Sweden from competing with the App Store,” Sweeney writes in a post on X. “Apple informed the European Commission and Epic that it would yield and restore our access to bring back Fortnite and launch the Epic Games Store in Europe under the DMA law after a prompt inquiry.”

for Wednesday, the EU’s DMA came into force formally, permitting third-party app shops and different payment methods for iOS. While outside of the EU, you can still use third-party apps, but if you’re going to be gone for an extended period of time, don’t count on being able to update them.