CARY – Apple has told Epic Games that it will not reinstate Epic’s access to the Apple App Store for its globally popular Fortnite game until all appeals in the lawsuits between the two companies are heard. And Epic CEO Tim Sweeney is livid.
“Apple lied,” Sweeney said via a tweet on Wednesday.
“Apple spent a year telling the world, the court, and the press they’d “welcome Epic’s return to the App Store if they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else”. Epic agreed, and now Apple has reneged in another abuse of its monopoly power over a billion users.
“Just last week, Epic agreed with Apple that we would play by the same rules as everyone else.”
Epic also paid Apple $6 million as part of the decision in the lawsuit decided by a federal judget in California. The money was the amount the judge said Epic owned Apple for devising a workaround to avoid Apple’s in-store fee structure.
Why is Apple still banning Fortnite? To ‘punish’ Epic, fatten profits, warn others, lawyer says
That’s not enough to placate Apple, according to a letter sent to Epic. Apple cited Epic’s “duplicitous” conduct as a reason for not reinstating Epic’s access.
In a letter shared via Twitter, Sweeney pointed out to Apple that it wanted back in the App Store based on the guidelines of the court’s decision. Both Apple and Epic have appealed.
Sweeney’s note to Apple executive Phil Schiller:
Sweeney described Apple’s decision as “another extraordinary anticompetitive move by Apple, demonstrating their power to reshape markets and choose winners and losers.
“It’s also a loss for fair competition and consumer choice,” he added. “The loss of Fortnite as an iOS metaverse competitor alongside Roblox and PUBG Mobile has significant implications for the evolution of the new medium of our era.”
