Epic has lost an incredible amount of money in the fight against Apple and Google

Highlights

Epic Games has spent hundreds of millions on lawsuits against Apple and Google.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney also estimates that the company may have lost $1 billion in revenue over the past four years due to Fortnite’s ban from the iOS App Store.

Epic Games has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on its legal battles with Apple and Google, a senior company official revealed, but the total cost of Epic’s fight against current App Store policies was apparently much higher.

Epic sued Apple and Google in August 2020 over alleged monopoly power of their respective mobile app stores. The goal of the two lawsuits was to challenge the app store duopoly and pave the way for alternative payment methods and app distribution channels. The lawsuit against Apple failed on nine out of ten counts, while the lawsuit against Google was more successful, with a jury ruling in Epic’s favor on all eleven counts.

Epic Games wins major antitrust case against Google

After a long-running legal battle, Epic Games has finally won a major lawsuit against Google related to antitrust and anti-competitive practices.

Epic spent a nine-figure sum on litigation against Apple and Google

But all of that came at a price: Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney revealed that the company spent “hundreds of millions” pursuing the two lawsuits. The estimate was made during a recent video conference call that the company’s executives held with reporters ahead of the launch of the Epic Games Store mobile marketplace on August 16. When asked by Game File’s Stephen Totilo about the total cost of the App Store litigation, Sweeney noted that Apple has hit Epic with a nearly $74 million legal bill.

Epic may have lost a billion dollars in revenue due to the dispute with Apple

But legal fees are only part of the equation. Sweeney points out that there is also revenue loss resulting from Fortnite banned from Apple’s App Store for many years. The executive estimated that Epic may have lost $1 billion in revenue because its successful battle royale game was not available in the iOS App Store for the past four years.

Whatever the case, Sweeney said he believes the best is yet to come for Epic, especially now that Fortnite has returned to the iOS App Store, at least in the European Union. It is still unclear when the game will be available again for iPhone and iPad users in the US

Although Apple successfully defended itself against Epic’s lawsuit on nine out of ten counts, the company was still found guilty of anti-competitive practices by preventing developers from redirecting users to alternative in-app payment methods that do not require the iOS App Store. The company subsequently received an injunction allowing developers to add links to third-party payment options in their apps. Unhappy with this turn of events, Apple wanted to take the Epic Games case to the Supreme Court. But the country’s top judicial body declined to hear the case in January 2024.