Apple and Epic Games continue their “battle royale” started over Apple’s appalling and severely-criticized anti-competitive App Store rules, affecting developers and publishers.
Now, Apple seems to be taking some retaliatory actions against Epic, as the games company announced that its developer account on the App Store, whose purpose was to sell games in Europe, had been terminated – because of a post on X.
Previously, in 2020, Epic sued Apple over iOS App Store practices, challenging a ban on third-party in-app purchasing, as well as the 30% cut the tech behemoth was taking through the only available payments channel.
Eventually Epic, the makers of Fortnite, won the anti-steering element of the case, although the court didn’t go as far as to qualify Apple’s actions as monopolistic. But the Supreme Court refused to consider appeals lodged by both parties.
The latest development in this corporate tech stand-off was announced by Epic, in a blog post that said the recently approved developer account in Sweden, in compliance with EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), has now been terminated.
“Under the #DMA, there is no room for threats by gatekeepers to silence developers,” Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market of the European Union, posted on X.
“I have asked our services to look into Apple’s termination of Epic’s developer account as a matter of priority.”
Epic interprets Apple’s move as a “serious violation” of the act, and proof that Apple never intended to allow “true” competition from alternative stores.
The post details the act’s provisions, namely, that “the gatekeeper” (in this case, Apple) has an obligation to secure technical conditions for third party apps or stores to be installed and used “effectively.”
By blocking Epic’s account, the game publisher is certain, Apple has gotten rid of “one of the largest potential competitors to its App Store” and at the same time, according to Epic, the giant is sending a warning message to others not to go against its practices.
The post also quotes the reason Apple gave for this move – Epic’s criticism of the way the company said it would comply with the DMA – a criticism contained in a post on X.
Penned by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney on February 26, it read:
“Apple leadership faces some massive decisions in the coming weeks as the contradictions between their stated principles and the intended and actual consequences of their present policies are reckoned with: the app store monopoly, the digital goods payments monopoly, the tax, the…”
“Apple is retaliating against Epic for speaking out against Apple’s unfair and illegal practices, just as they’ve done to other developers time and time again,” the blog continued.
Apple, on the other hand, are said to have referred to Epic as “verifiably untrustworthy,” as well as, “a threat to its ecosystem.”
