Apple has kicked “Fortnite” makers Epic Games out of its developer program – once again. A new developer account for the gaming company’s Swedish subsidiary, which was intended to create an alternative app store for the company under iOS, has now been blocked by Apple. Epic announced this on Wednesday evening in a blog post with. “To our surprise, Apple terminated this account and we are now unable to develop the Epic Games Store for iOS.” This is a serious violation of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which comes into force on Thursday, and shows “that Apple has no intention of allowing real competition on iOS devices.”
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Just in time for the start of the DMA
According to Epic, Apple blocked the developer account that had been set up a few weeks earlier on March 2nd. It initially remained unclear why the company only communicated this now – at the start of the DMA. In a letter from Apple’s lawyers, they write that Epic Games “demonstrably cannot be trusted.” Statements from Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who, among other things, accused Apple of “malicious compliance” in connection with the DMA, were cited as evidence.
Epic’s original developer account was blocked in 2020 because, according to Apple, the company had violated rules and implemented its own payment methods in order to avoid having to pay Apple’s 30 percent commission in the App Store. Since then, a global legal dispute has been raging between the companies, which is now even affecting the highest courts. Apple now emphasized that its stance on blocking Epic had been confirmed by the courts. Due to Epic’s “egregious breach of its contractual obligations to Apple,” the group has the right to “terminate any or all wholly-owned subsidiaries, affiliates and/or other companies under Epic Games’ control at any time and in its sole discretion.” In view of Epic Games’ past and current behavior, Apple has now exercised this right, according to a statement from the iPhone manufacturer.
Epic Games sees “retaliation”
Epic described the suspension of the Swedish developer account as “retaliation” – particularly for the criticism that CEO Sweeney had made about Apple’s DMA plans. It was said, among other things, that these were “garbage” and that Apple was slowing down competitors. Among other things, Apple had stipulated that from one million downloads onwards a “core technology fee” of 50 cents per installation per year had to be paid. Developers of alternative app stores such as Epic should also pay this fee from the first installation of their “Marketplace App”. In addition, under certain circumstances, a guarantee worth millions may be required.
The recent dispute between Epic and Apple took place at the highest level. This is how Sweeney communicated directly with App Store boss Phil Schiller. According to the letter history, it appears that Apple initially wanted a written commitment from Epic to adhere to the rules, which was apparently accepted. “In the past, Epic entered into contracts with Apple and then broke them,” said Schiller. With the deadline of March 2nd, Epic became the account is terminated – what communication there was before is not yet known.
(bsc)