The long-running saga of the app store commission dispute between Apple and Epic Games is heading back to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On the 6th (local time), news broke that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had granted Apple's request for a stay of the ruling. Epic Games immediately fired back, stating via social media that they have filed an opposition to this stay.

The chaos started when both the California lower court and the appellate court branded Apple's 27% commission on external payments as 'contempt of court,' effectively undermining the spirit of the ruling. Apple insists that the 27% fee isn't just for payment processing, but covers hosting, search discovery, and software developer tools. The appellate court, however, saw right through this, arguing that such a hefty fee renders the allowance of external payments essentially useless. Apple, predictably, refuses to back down and has filed for a stay with the Supreme Court, signaling its intent to appeal.

The bad blood between the two dates back to 2020, when Epic Games introduced its own payment system in Fortnite to dodge Apple's 30% store commission. Apple booted the game for breaking the rules, and Epic responded with an antitrust lawsuit. In 2021, the first-instance court ruled that Apple shouldn't block developers from providing external payment links. By January 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals from both sides, cementing the original ruling that external payments must be allowed.

Following the Supreme Court's decision, Apple begrudgingly allowed external payments but slapped a commission on them anyway. Epic slammed this as a blatant attempt to bypass the ruling, arguing that once you factor in the extra payment processing costs, there's no real difference from the original fee. Eventually, in December 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and the appellate court sided with Epic, ruling that Apple's maneuvers constituted contempt of court.

However, with Apple's request to stay the contempt ruling now granted, this feud is set to reignite. Depending on future court decisions or Apple's next move, we may yet see shifts in the landscape of external payment and store commission fees.

Meanwhile, Google—which has also been locked in a legal tug-of-war with Epic Games—has complied with final settlements, including the introduction of external payment systems and adjustments to commission rates. Given how much attention Google’s fee cuts garnered back in March, the industry will be watching this situation like a hawk.