In a reversal against Epic earlier this week, Apple declined to ban the game maker and instead decided to allow it back into the company's developer program

In a statement to Bloomberg on Friday (March 8), Apple discussed with Epic the policies of its developer program and how it needs to get around so as not to violate the iPhone maker's rules agreed to these policies and that the company was reinstated

"After discussions with Epic, we committed to abide by the rules, including the DMA policy As a result, Epic Sweden AB was allowed to re-enter into the Developer Agreement and was admitted to the Apple Developer Program"

Apple and Epic have fought for years over what Epic believes are draconian App Store policies that restrict developer freedom and ultimately give Apple too much power in the app ecosystem As a result, Epic removed Fortnite from the App Store and filed a complaint in Europe about Apple's practices

This week, the European Union enacted the Digital Markets Act (DMA), requiring companies, including Apple, to allow third-party application marketplaces to operate on their platformsEpic has announced plans to open an Epic Games store on iOS announced plans to open it and said it would eventually bring Fortnite back to Apple's platform However, both the store and game offerings were limited to Europe

Earlier this week, however, Apple said Epic was disobeying developer rules and criticizing the company As a result, Apple banned Epic from its developer program, eliminating the possibility of Epic launching a store or offering Fortnite through its own marketplace Not surprisingly, Epic complained about the ban, but had little recourse

It is unclear from Apple's statement what Epic said to quell Apple's upset, but it clearly had to say something appropriate in order to find its way back to iOS Nevertheless, the question remains, after all, how much power Apple has in controlling iOS access to third-party app stores, and whether other companies need to be on their best behavior toward Apple or risk being banned

In any case, Epic (and Fortnite) are returning to Apple after several years But it remains to be seen if the two companies can get along for too long