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The move to suspend Epic Games from the iOS developer program came just days after a U.S. court rejected its offer to have Fortnite reinstated on the App Store, saying its eviction by Apple was a “self-inflicted wound”.
The ruling against Epic Games comes amid a battle over whether Apple’s tight control over the App Store and its 30 percent cut in revenue counts as monopolistic behavior.
“We are disappointed that we had to cancel Epic Games’ account on the App Store,” Apple said in response to a query from AFP.
Apple pulled Fortnite from its online mobile app market on August 13 after Epic released an update that prevents revenue sharing with the iPhone maker.
Apple does not allow users of its popular devices to download applications from anywhere other than its App Store.
The Silicon Valley-based tech giant told Epic it would cut access to the tools necessary to adapt the software to devices that run on the iPhone maker’s operating systems.
A judge’s ruling this week prevented Apple from also cutting Epic from access to developer tools for its Unreal Engine that powers graphics on computers.
“The court recommended that Epic abide by the App Store guidelines as its case progresses,” Apple said.
“Epic has refused. Instead, they repeatedly send out Fortnite updates designed to violate App Store guidelines.”
Apple maintained that Epic was putting Fortnite players in the middle of a fledgling battle involving the companies.
“Apple is requesting that Epic revert Fortnite to exclusively use Apple Payments,” Epic said in response to a query from AFP.
“As a matter of principle, we will not participate in this scheme.”
Apple no longer allows Epic to send apps or updates through a developer account.
Players with older versions of Fortnite can still play on iPhones or iPads, but will have to rely on Apple’s payment system for transactions.
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