The long-running dispute between Apple and Fortnite maker Epic Games has entered a new chapter following Apple’s termination of Epic’s developer account.
In January, Apple outlined plans to allow third-party developers to create their own app stores for European iPhone and iPad users following an EU ruling, but this latest move prevents Epic Games from doing just that.
Apple claims that Epic Games is “demonstrably untrustworthy,” citing the company’s past behavior and statements by its CEO Tim Sweeney.
The termination of the publisher account was announced on the Epic Games blog.
“We recently announced that Apple approved our developer account at Epic Games Sweden AB. We wanted to use this account to bring the Epic Games Store and Fortnite to iOS devices in Europe thanks to the Digital Markets Act (DMA),” the statement said.
The DMA is an EU law that forces Apple to enable third-party app stores on iPhones and iPads.
“To our surprise, Apple has terminated this account and now we can no longer develop the Epic Games Store for iOS. This is a serious violation of the DMA and shows that Apple has no intention of allowing real competition on iOS devices,” Epic’s website says.
Apple responded in a statement to the Evening Standard.
“Epic’s blatant breach of its contractual obligations to Apple led the courts to hold that Apple has the right to terminate ‘any or all of Epic Games’ wholly owned subsidiaries, affiliates and/or other entities under its control’ at any time and in Apple’s sole discretion.’ In light of Epic’s past and ongoing conduct, Apple has decided to exercise this right,” it said.
Epic Games has also released its correspondence with Apple executives, including an email from Phil Schiller, a longtime Apple executive who is often seen at major Apple launches. He is described as an Apple Fellow who is “responsible for leading the App Store and Apple events.”
“We ask that you assure us in writing that you are also acting in good faith and that Epic Games Sweden will honor all of its commitments despite your public actions and rhetoric. Please tell us in clear, unqualified terms why we should trust Epic this time,” Schiller wrote to Tim Sweeney, according to Epic Games’ published documents.
Schiller is referring here, at least in part, to Epic Games’ previous attempts to circumvent Apple’s payment system. This results in Apple having to hand over at least 30% of the profits.
Epic Games added support for third-party payments to the Fortnite app in 2020, prompting Apple to remove the hugely popular game from the App Store.
The same thing happened on Android’s Google Play, but Fortnite has since been playable on Android phones thanks to a process called sideloading, which involves installing apps not downloaded through the Google Play app store onto Android devices.
While Epic Games has a history of violating rules set by platform holders like Apple, this latest move could potentially result in heavy fines for Apple.
On March 4, Apple was fined £1.5 billion following an EU investigation that concluded that Apple had suppressed competition in music streaming services and favored its own company, Apple Music, over rivals such as Spotify.
Whatever the outcome of this drawn-out battle, there is still little hope that UK gamers will be able to play Fortnite natively on iPhones and iPads. The EU’s ruling that third-party app stores should be allowed on iOS does not apply to the UK.
The Standard has asked Apple and Epic Games for comment.
