Epic’s Tim Sweeney says Apple’s ‘dishonesty’ and ‘gross disrespect’ to Japan is the reason Fortnite isn’t coming to iOS there

Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney has launched another attack on Apple, this time claiming it’s the reason Fortnite has still yet to arrive on iOS in Japan.

This week Apple announced that it was making changes to iOS in Japan to comply with the country’s new Mobile Software Competition Act, which demands that Apple allow third-party app marketplaces and external app payments on its devices.

Apple’s announcement stated that beginning with iOS version 26.2, developers in Japan will be able to “distribute apps on alternative app marketplaces, operate alternative app marketplaces, process app payments for digital goods and services outside of Apple In-App Purchase in iOS, and more”.

Epic had previously promised that Fortnite would be coming to iOS in Japan by the end of the year as a result of the Act, but now Sweeney says this won’t be happening, claiming that Apple has been “dishonest” in the way it’s implemented the required changes.

“Sadly, Fortnite will not return to iOS in Japan in 2025 as promised,” Sweeney wrote on X. “Apple was required to open up iOS to competing stores today, and instead of doing so honestly, they have launched another travesty of obstruction and lawbreaking in gross disrespect to the government and people of Japan. Apple chose poorly. Again.”

Sweeney claims that Apple is charging a “junk fee” of 21% on any third-party in-app payments, 15% on any purchases made on the web. He also challenged the use of “anticompetitive” warning screens which tell users that privacy and security when making external purchases are controlled by the developer, not Apple.

Sweeney also accused Apple of charging a “5% junk fee on all revenue from apps distributed by competing stores”, saying it plans to track this with a mandatory reporting API.

“This is an egregious Apple imposition on distribution and payments they have no involvement with, and a practice the US courts already found to be illegal and upheld on appeal,” Sweeney wrote.

“Obviously, real competition won’t happen, and consumers won’t benefit, when Apple abuses its position between users and competitors to obstruct honest dealing between them. This is another sad day in the history of relationships between platform makers, developers, and consumers, and we will be raising our complaints with the Japanese Fair Trade Commission.”

This is the latest chapter in the ongoing Epic vs Apple saga which stretches back to 2020, when the Fortnite publisher sued Apple for taking a 30% cut on all in-app purchases while also banning any alternative ways of making payments outside of Apple’s ecosystem.

Epic tried to bypass Apple’s platform fees in 2020 by adding a new direct payment option in Fortnite, but Apple then removed the game from the App Store and terminated Epic’s developer account.

Apple was then ordered in 2021 to allow iOS developers to link to external payment options in their apps, but when it did so it also – similarly to what Sweeney is now accusing it of doing in Japan – added a 27% commission on purchases made through web links in apps, as well as prompts warning users about the safety risks of using web link purchases.

In may this year a US judge ordered Apple to stop forcing the 27% commission and using its prompts, stating that it had violated a 2021 injunction and that VP Alex Roman had “outright lied under oath”, meaning the company could now face criminal contempt charges.