While the dispute started with Epic trying to get Apple to accept an alternative payment system for Fortnite, the conflict is now about the future relationship between game and app publishers and the big companies that control their platforms. Apple has asked for compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney’s fees, and interest, as well as restitution and disgorgement of all earnings, profits, compensation, benefits, and other allegedly ill-gotten gains Epic obtained as a result of conduct in violation of Apple’s terms of service. It is only requesting that Apple be prohibited from punishing Epic Games for its actions related to the direct payments in Fortnite. What’s interesting about Epic’s case is that it hasn’t asked the court for any damages.
In its defense, Apple has been using the rhetoric of victimhood and innovation, while Epic is attacking on the grounds of freedom, openness, fairness, and revolution. That sounds like a lot, but it’s puny compared to Apple’s stock market value of $2.2 trillion and Apple’s revenues of $89 billion in the quarter ended March 31 alone.
Fortnite’s revenue has made the company valuable, and Epic Games recently raised $1 billion at a valuation of $28 billion. Microsoft, an Unreal user, supported Epic in the Unreal Engine TRO matter.Įpic claims it’s leading the charge for all game developers and says it can only do so because it isn’t beholden to the tech giants. Apple then tried to withdraw developer tool support from Epic’s Unreal game engine, which 11 million developers use, and a federal judge granted Epic’s temporary restraining order to prevent that from happening. Epic sued both Apple and Google for antitrust and posted a parody video mocking Apple’s stance for freedom in its groundbreaking 1984 ad.
#Epic games download apple free
(This was an easily refuted claim, as you’ll see below.) Apple said it built the App Store on top of the iOS mobile platform at great financial risk and that Epic was trying to get a free ride now it felt it had paid enough fees. It argued that app distribution and payment could be as open on Apple’s iOS platform as it is on personal computers.Īpple and Google banned Fortnite, and Apple fired back with the claim that Epic sought to get itself a sweetheart deal other developers couldn’t get. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has long argued that the 30% commissions the big companies take from every game transaction is unfair and that Epic should be able to directly sell its in-app goods to players for lower prices. Epic’s conflict started on April 13 last year, when Epic announced a discount policy and direct payment mechanism for Fortnite that Apple and Google said violated their respective terms of service.