A major tension between publisher Epic Games and manufacturer Apple erupted when the former deliberately violated App Store rules in 2020.
More than three years later, where is the case between video game giant Epic Games and another giant named Apple? A reminder of the situation.
Act 1, Apple excludes Fortnite from its App Store
Thursday August 13, 2020, Apple has deleted the Fortnite game from its App Store, after publisher Epic Games violated Apple’s online store rules by allowing players to buy bundled content without paying the usual 30% due to the iPhone creator. After a while, the game was also removed from Google Play for similar reasons.
Introductory, provocation signed to Epic Games
Epic’s provocation was anything but, shortly after, the publisher aired a short video in its Fortnite game called Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite (see video below), a parody of a 1984 Apple ad inspired by the 1984 anti-authoritarian novel. By George Orwell. The purpose of the maneuver at that time: to attack the IT monopoly by IBM. So the big bad of 2020 will be epitomized by yesterday’s White Night, with Epic positioning itself as the revolutionary little guys (the few, though, are worth a few billion dollars on the stock market).
Act 2, Epic Games sued Apple
Epic then went on to reveal its plan, which was certainly long in the making, suing Apple and citing the Sherman Act, an American antitrust law. In its complaint, Epic had fun citing 1984 — again — as well as Apple’s famous ad. A huge blockage in the lake therefore, as well as a major communication blow.
Act 3, Epic Games lost the war in the United States after 3 years of action
Where are we today after more than three years of action? To sum it up, it’s a win for Apple. Indeed, the Epic firm rejected its final appeal on January 16, 2024 and now nothing is legally possible. “Supreme Court in Epic Vs. Appeals by both sides in anti-Apple antitrust case dismissed Tim Sweeney said, CEO of Epic Games. A legal battle to open up iOS to competing stores and payment methods has been lost in the United States. A regrettable outcome for all developers.
Epilogue, Europe takes over from Epic Games with its DMA
Apple thus maintains its “monopoly” in the United States, even though – ironically? – It is about to be broken by the new laws of the old continent in Europe (see our news App Store loses its monopoly in Europe. Kuch…). Who knows that the European authorities have not carefully followed the process on the other side of the Atlantic to refine their DMA (Digital Markets Act for new European legislation on digital markets) …
