Fortnite can feel like a game of milliseconds, and Apple booted the popular online game from its App Store in an equally fast time. And it appears that neither side will shine first in this digital war, the natural conclusion of Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney’s long-standing battle against Apple’s business practices in the iOS App Store.
Apple kicked Fortnite out of its App Stores on August 13, hours after Epic Games added a new way to pay for items within its iPhone and Android apps. This broke Apple’s rules because it goes right past Apple’s payment processing, so Epic does not have to share the standard 30% of its sales with the iPhone maker.
Apple is not the only one taking action against Epic and Fortnite. Google also removed the game from Google Play, citing the same issue with in-app purchases as Apple.
If you were wondering why Epic would try to prevent 30% of its sales from Apple and Google, a SensorTower report found that Fortnite raked in more than $ 1 billion USD in iOS and Google Play stores.
Last Fortnite Vs. Apple News
The latest blow in the Fortnite vs. Apple war comes from the latest, as Apple Epic Games has announced that its developer accounts for iOS and macOS will be closed on August 28th.
Epic announced Apple’s latest move in a tweet, and we’ve got more news below about how this is less about Fortnite and more about the general business of Epic.
Epic responds with “Nineteen Eigthy-Fortnite”
It turns out that Epic and Fortnite were already ready for this reaction, announces Nineteen Eigthy-Fortnite, a brief that you can check out below. In the clip (an obvious riff on Apple’s 1984 1984 Super Bowl commercial, which positioned the company as revolutionary), an Apple chief man on a series of monitors celebrates the “anniversary of the uniform guidelines of the platform ”and goes on to cry about how“ they ”(app developers, it seems) have given work and dreams, and in return, the company has taken control and profit.
When the voice says “we will have priority”, a rainbow haired Fortnite character breaks the screen by throwing a unicorn-headed pickaxe into it. It’s almost a shot for remake of the old ad.
It keeps repeating the older ad, saying:
“Epic Games has trampled the App Store Monopoly. In delay, Apple is blocking Fortnite from a billion devices. Join the fight to stop 2020 from ‘1984.’”
For those who are too young to remember, here is the original Apple 1984 ad:
Apple responds
An Apple spokeswoman told The Verge that “Epic Games took the unfortunate step of breaking the App Store guidelines that are equally applicable to every developer and designed to keep the store safe for our users.”
Epic strikes back
Shortly afterwards, Epic announced that Apple would take Apple to court, tweet from a link to its legal submission. Here is a brief taste:
“Rather than tolerate this healthy competition and compete over the merits of their offerings, Apple responded by removing Fortnite from sales in the App Store, which means new users will not be able to download the app, and users who previously downloaded versions of the app from the App Store could not update to the latest version, which also means that Fortnite players who have downloaded their app from the App Store will not receive updates for Fortnite via the App Store, automatically or by searching the App Store for the update, Apple’s removal of Fortnite is yet another example of Apple’s tremendous power to put up unfair restrictions and its 100% monopoly on iOS “In-App Lightning Payment Processing App”
What Google the
When Apple and Epic exchanged allegations, Google took action, removing Fortnite from Google Play. According to a statement from Google, “we can no longer make it available on Play because it violates our policies. However, we welcome the opportunity to continue our conversations with Epic and bring Fortnite back to Google Play. “
You can still download Fortnite on your Android phone by installing it directly from the Epic website. (In fact, it was initially the only way to download the Android version of Fortnite a few years back.) The app remains available from Samsung’s Galaxy Store.
What happens next?
On August 17, Epic announced that Apple will close Epic’s developer account and its iOS / macOS development tool. This would be a great deal for Epic as a company, as it would negatively affect every iOS and macOS game that uses Epic’s Unreal Engine tool, which can be a huge dent in Epic’s bottom line.
Epic Games filed to stop Apple from terminating the developer accounts, and their submission includes the following remark:
“If the Unreal Engine can no longer support Apple platforms, the software developers who use it will be forced to use alternatives. The damage to Epic’s ongoing business and to its reputation and trust with its customers will be unquantifiable. and be irreparable. Prior fraud is necessary to prevent Apple Epic from crashing before this case can ever be judged. “
Epic also rallied users to protest Apple’s decision with its #FreeFortnite campaign, and the company also shared a FAQ about the whole situation to tell its side of the story.
The timing of all this feels incredibly deliberate on Epic’s part, testing how Apple would react to a breach of its payment rules while it comes under increased control. This past June, the European Union opened anti-trust investigations to analyze how Apple is conducting business in the App Store.
Epic is not the only team pushing for Apple’s rules, as Basecamp’s Hey email app also tried to break the rules on how to list an app in the App Store. Soon, Hey found a solution by giving people email accounts to test things out, and Apple dropped them back in the App Store.
Apple was also one of the companies controlled by the US government when Tim Cook (along with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg) was sued by Capitol Hill lawmakers in late July. interrogated.
In an interview with CNBC earlier this year, Sweeney made his criticism of Apple clear, calling the App Store an ‘absolute monopoly’.
The exceptions of Amazon and Spotify
As reported by The Verge, Apple is not exactly strict with its 30% rule, and Amazon is cutting a deal for half that rate, taking only 15% of Amazon purchases made in its iOS and iPad apps. Spotify is also getting a lower rate, as Apple announced in 2019 that it will collect a 15% fee on payments made by Spotify subscribers who sign up between 2014 and 2016.
It’s unclear what steps Apple and Epic will take next, but we’ll keep an eye on things to see who budgets first. Stay tuned to Tom’s Guide for more on Fortnite’s Epic battle against Apple’s rules.
