What happened with Epic Games and Apple? Epic Games & Apple Lawsuit explained

Fortnite is one of the most popular video games on the planet, playable across computers, gaming consoles, and mobile devices. However, as of August 13, 2020, it’s no longer available to download on mobile platforms. It is not available on iOS via the Apple App Store, and not on Android except outside the Google Play Store. So what happened with Epic Games and Apple? Read on to know more details.

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What Happened with Epic Games and Apple?

Apple and Google removed the Fortnite app from their respective marketplaces on Thursday for violating their rules. Immediately after that, Fortnite maker Epic Games filed separate antitrust lawsuits against the two companies. In this battle of Epic games vs Apple, Apple kicked out Fortnite out of the App Store hours as Epic released a silent update that allowed users to pay directly to Epic Games which was against the App Store Contract. 

Soon after that, Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple to reinstate that and also be able to run its own app store on iOS devices. Apple also responded by giving Fortnite a brief time before terminating its developer accounts. Epic retaliated with a lawsuit claiming that Apple violates antitrust law by controlling iOS platform access through the App Store and requiring developers to use its payment options.

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Sweeney had also requested Apple to allow Epic to launch its own app store on iOS and make available an alternative payment system in Fortnite and other games from Epic which would allow them to bypass the App Store's 30 percent cut.

Apple and Epic Games Lawsuit

Epic filed another lawsuit asking the court to prevent Apple from deleting its dev accounts. The judge decided Apple couldn’t terminate Epic’s dev accounts related to Unreal Engine, but it could for the game-related ones it used for Fortnite and other titles. Apple then stated that Epic could avoid having its dev accounts deleted by submitting a Fortnite update that removed the direct payment feature. Apple then terminated its dev accounts except for Unreal Engine related ones on August 28th as Epic stuck to its demands.

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A week after that, Epic filed another one asking the court to make Apple allow Fortnite back on the App Store. Epic could be losing as much as $26 million a month in revenue by being banned from the App Store. On the other hand, Apple said in its filing that Epic has earned a total of $600 million with Fortnite on its App Store.

Apple's latest news is about its latest filing against Epic in which Apple mentions that Epic's lawsuit is nothing more than a basic disagreement over money and that Epic is hardly a modern-day Robin Hood which it portrays to be. Apple argued that its rate is fair, but didn't address how much lower Epic's fees are for its store. It said its app store fees are similar or identical to commission rates charged by other app marketplaces and digital platforms, such as Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Steam and Xbox.

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Promo Image Credits: A Screenshot from Epic Games Parody Video