Apple refuses to lift ban on Epic Games, CEO Tim Sweeney calls it 'abuse of monopoly'

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that US tech giant Apple has rejected their request to lift a ban on Epic's developer account from the Apple Play Store. This effectively means that users will not be able to install Fortnite, one of the most popular battle royale multiplayer games in the world. 

Tim Sweeney said in a tweet, "Apple lied. Apple spent a year telling the world, the court, and the press they'd welcome Epic's return to the App Store if they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else. Epic agreed, and now Apple has reneged in another abuse of its monopoly power over a billion users."

Apple vs Epic case

With millions of players logging in daily, Fortnite also enjoys a huge following on content streaming portals such as YouTube and Twitch. That being said, Fortnite's creator Epic Games had recently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the California-based tech giant, Apple. 

In the Epic Games vs Apple case, a judge had ruled in the favor of Epic Games, restricting Apple to prohibit applications from putting direct mode of payments and contacts or external links in the application. However, Apple has won all the rulings except this one. The case related to the Apple App Store talks about the company's dominance over modes of payment and high commission rates on in-app purchases. 

Apple bans Epic from publishing apps on its store 

Tim Sweeney shared a mail Epic received from Apple last night. According to what the mail reads, Epic Games shall be forbidden to access their developers account for publishing apps on iOS until the legal procedures settle down, which could take as long as five years, as stated by the Epic CEO on Twitter. Read the tweet attached below, which also has a document attached to it. 

Fortnite was available on various platforms including the Apple Play Store, Android Play Store, Xbox, PlayStation, PC and Nintendo Switch. However, after Epic inserted external payment portals in the game for both Android and Apple Play Store, both Google and Apple removed Fortnite from their digital app stores. Following this, Epic filed a lawsuit against both the companies, but has not been able to gain back its position in both the Apple and Google digital stores.