For a short period of time on Friday, Darth Vader could drop F-bombs in the video game Fortnite as part of a voice AI implementation gone wrong, reports GameSpot. Epic Games rapidly deployed a hotfix after players encountered the Sith Lord responding to their comments with profanity and strong language.
In Fortnite, the AI-voiced Vader appears as both a boss in battle royale mode and an interactive character. The official Star Wars website encourages players to "ask him all your pressing questions about the Force, the Galactic Empire… or you know, a good strat for the last Storm circle," adding that "the Sith Lord has opinions."
The F-bomb incident involved a Twitch streamer named Loserfruit, who triggered the forceful response when discussing food with the virtual Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith responded by repeating her words "freaking" and "fucking" before adding, "Such vulgarity does not become you, Padme." The exchange spread virally across social media platforms on Friday.
© Disney / Starwars.com
Fortnite maker Epic Games has announced that Apple has blocked the game’s return to iOS. Following the rejection, Fortnite is no longer available on iPhones and iPads even in the European Union, where it had previously been available to download through the Epic Games Store.
“Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the US App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union,” the company posted on the official Fortnite X account. “Now, sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it.”
The Verge has confirmed that the game is no longer available to download on iOS from the Epic Games Store or the alternative marketplace AltStore PAL in the EU, where it had previously been available.
However, according to Apple, that isn’t its doing.
“We asked that Epic Sweden resubmit the app update without including the US storefront of the App Store so as not to impact Fortnite in other geographies,” Apple spokesperson Olivia Dalton tells The Verge. “We did not take any action to remove the live version of Fortnite from alternative distribution marketplaces.”
Fortnite returned to iOS in the EU last year, but only through those two storefronts, and not Apple’s App Store. The return was made possible by the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which required Apple to allow third-party app stores on iOS.
Epic had resubmitted Fortnite to the US App Store this month following a recent ruling in Epic’s lawsuit against Apple. That ruling prohibited Apple from restricting developers’ ability to link to external payment systems, one of the issues that had started their long-running legal battle. Epic was forced to use its Swedish developer account to resubmit the game, as its US account was terminated in 2020 when it first broke Apple’s rules by introducing its own in-app payments to the game.
This week Epic CEO Tim Sweeney announced that the company had pulled its previous Fortnite submission and submitted a new version that included an update due to release today, noting that “all platforms must update simultaneously.” He’s since taken to X repeatedly to complain that unofficial Fortnite knock-offs have been allowed into the App Store while Fortnite hasn’t, claiming that Apple’s app review process has been “weaponized by senior management.”
Update, May 16th: Added comment from Apple.
Many horses, including Spotify and Amazon's Kindle Store, have already left the barn. But Apple is moving quickly to shut the external payments door opened by last week's ruling that the company willfully failed to comply with court orders regarding anticompetitive behavior.
In an emergency motion filing late Wednesday (PDF), Apple described US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' "extraordinary Order" as including an injunction that "permanently precludes Apple from exercising control over core aspects of its business operations, including charging for use of its property and protecting the integrity of its platform and in-app purchase mechanism." A certificate (PDF) accompanying the emergency filing states that the order "fundamentally changes Apple's business and creates destabilizing effects" for App Store customers.
The restrictions, "which will cost Apple substantial sums annually," are not based on the company's conduct, Apple claims, but "were imposed to punish Apple for purported non-compliance" with the 2021 injunction. In her ruling (PDF), Gonzalez Rogers described Apple as conducting an "obvious cover-up" and said that Apple "at every turn chose the most anticompetitive option."
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