Apple just kicked Fortnite out of the App Store

Apple has generously removed Epic Games’ battle Fortnite of the App Store after the developer on Thursday implemented its own in-app payment system that rounded Apple’s standard fee of 30 percent.

The decision marks a major escalation in the feud between Epic and one of the most dominant mobile software parks in the world. It also comes at a particularly tense time for Apple, as the iPhone maker’s anti-trust worries about its operation of the App Store and the rules it imposes on certain developers. Epic implemented its own payment system in the Android version of Fortnite also, but Google has not yet taken any action and the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple said in a statement The edge that it intends to work with Epic to ‘resolve these infringements’, but that it has no intention of creating a ‘special arrangement’ for the company. Here is the full statement from the company:

Today, Epic Games took the unfortunate step of violating the App Store guidelines that are equally applicable to every developer and designed to keep the store safe for our users. As a result, their Fortnite app has been removed from the store. Epic enabled a feature in their app that was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intention of violating the App Store’s guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to any developer who selling digital goods or services.

Epic has owned apps in the App Store for decades, and have benefited from the App Store’s ecosystem – including its tools, testing and distribution that Apple provides to all developers. Epic freely agreed to the terms and conditions of the App Store and we are glad that they have built such a successful business on the App Store. The fact that their business interests are now leading them to push for a special regulation does not change the fact that these guidelines create an equal playing field for all developers and make the store safe for all users. We will do our best to work with Epic to resolve these violations so that they can bring Fortnite back to the App Store.

Epic’s approach seems designed to provoke Apple in a reaction like the Fortnite studio explicitly stated in its new iOS update how using Epic’s in-app payment system would result in cheaper prices. For example, 1,000 V-dollars, which is roughly equal to $ 10 in-game Fortnite currency, now costs just $ 7.99 if you use Epic direct payment instead of the standard Apple payment processing. Normally that amount of currency costs $ 9.99. Epic says, in this case, customers keep the extra savings, not the business. That dismisses the new scheme as a pro-consumer movement instead of a greedy power game.

Currently there are those who have already downloaded Fortnite on iOS are still able to access the game; only new downloads are disabled as a result of Apple withdrawing the game from the App Store. You can even use Epic’s in-app payment system, according to Teh Washington Post‘s Gene Park, which used both Apple and Epic payment systems to buy v-tubes. It is unclear how updates to Fortnite will work – some users who have downloaded the game but have not opened it for a while, report that files have been updated yet; normal download – but it seems plausible Epic would have to get the game back in the App Store to push substantial future changes to the iOS version.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has long complained that mobile app stores no longer justify the 30 percent cut from all developers, and he has called for substantial changes to how companies like Apple and Google do business with third-party developers. “It’s time for a change,” Sweeney said The edge in 2018. “Manufacturers of Apple, Google and Android are making huge, huge profits from the sale of their devices and in no way justify the 30 percent cut.” Epic launched a game store on PC in which it takes only 12 percent of revenue as a way to try to encourage a similar change in competitor Valve’s Steam marketplace.

The debate is bigger than just the 30 percent cut. Apple today criticizes how it not only manages the App Store and its mandatory fees, but also how it applies its policies in ways that some developers and critics think is unfair and in fact can are designed to take advantage of Apple over its competitors.

For example, Apple recently gave Amazon a 30 percent exemption from selling TV shows and movie rentals through its Prime Video app, something the company says is only allowed for certain streaming video platforms. Additionally, public court documents released during the Big Tech anti-trust hearing last month revealed that Apple in 2016 signed a special deal with Amazon to reduce the fees it takes on Prime Video subscriptions from 30 percent to 15 percent to Get Amazon’s app in the App Store.

Meanwhile, four years later, Apple explained exactly why they would never approve cloud gaming apps and game subscription services like Microsoft’s xCloud and Xbox Game Pass and Google Stadiums. Apple’s justification for doing so – that it does not rate all games offered by cloud gaming platforms individually as standard iOS apps would – provoked Sweeney to issue another harsh condemnation. “Apple has banned the metaverse,” he wrote on Twitter. “The principle it sets, literally, would exclude all cross-platform ecosystems and games with user-created modes: not only XCloud, Stadia, and GeForce NOW, but also Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox.”

Since Fortnite first arrived on mobile in 2018, the game has existed as a standard iOS app; Sweeney has openly stated that his company only did this because there is no other way to enter Apple’s closed ecosystem. That means Apple has taken 30 percent of all in-app purchases Fortnite coin used to purchase their battle pass subscription service and the cosmetic skins, emotes and other digital goods that make the battle generous to one of the most lucrative entertainment properties on the planet. Fortnite Epic earned $ 2.4 billion in 2018 and $ 1.8 billion in 2019, helped in large part by its popularity across platforms, as players can use the same account across iOS, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC .

Epic previously ran the Google Play Store on Android by letting go Fortnite as a direct download via its own software launcher. But the studio finally took relief earlier this year after failing to appeal to Google for an exemption from its similar 30 percent cut in all in-app purchases. “After 18 months of operating Fortnite on Android outside the Google Play Store, we’ve come to a basic realization,” read Epic’s statement. “Google installs software that can be accessed outside of Google Play.”

Epic’s statement at the time was transparent in its dissatisfaction with how Google, and by extension Apple, treats third-party software that does not follow its rules. Epic later joined Match Group, the parent company of Tinder and other dating apps, in issuing statements of support for two ongoing anti-trust investigations into Apple conducted by the European Union, launched only after Spotify and other app makers protested over App Store policies they say are unfairly punishing Apple competitors.