Epic Games continued to battle Apple over its App Store policies, appealing a court ruling which handed it a partial victory against the iPhone maker but which failed to address the gaming company’s key concerns over monopolistic practices.

The games company appealed the ruling on 12 September. CEO Tim Sweeney explained on Twitter the district court judgement was not a win for developers or consumers and was downbeat on the prospects of a swift return to iOS for big-name title Fortnite.

Epic Games is “fighting for fair competition among in-app payment methods and app stores for a billion consumers”, Sweeney wrote, adding Fortnite would only be restored once the company “can offer in-app payment in fair competition” with Apple’s system.

Although the district court backed Epic Games’ claims Apple’s in-app purchasing set-up demonstrated anti-competitive behaviour and ordered changes, the games company reportedly lost several other key elements in its case against the iPhone maker, which are the subject of its appeal.

Among these was a claim Apple engaged in monopolistic behaviour, stifling competition by restricting the payment options open to developers.

The court also ordered Epic Games to pay damages of 30 per cent on revenue of $12 million earned through a direct payment option it introduced between August and October 2020, and 30 per cent of such revenue collected until the ruling.