Apple and Epic Games have been in a battle against each other for quite some time. However things came to a head earlier this month when Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store. And Apple is standing its ground in its decision.
What led to this was Epic pushing out an update to Fortnite. In that update, Epic Games made it possible for players to buy V-bucks directly. Essentially giving them a way to buy in-game items without having to go through Apple, and thus avoiding having to pay Apple’s 30-percent fee.
Shortly after the game’s removal from the App Store, Google removed Fortnite from the Play Store, where it wasn’t available for long prior. Epic then responded by filing lawsuits against both companies. Apple however will not budge, making a statement today that probably isn’t going to make Epic Games happy.
Apple says it won’t make an exception for Epic Games
This was likely an expected followup response. Epic Games clearly violated Apple’s policies. And instead of trying to find a solution or find a different way to convince Apple to make an exception that didn’t involve breaking the rules, it chose to try and cut Apple out.
Apple is still willing to work with Epic though. In its statement today, Apple says that Epic Games can fix the problem it created for itself. All it has to do is update Fortnite so it once again complies with the guidelines of the App Store.
To which all developers have to adhere to. The big issue Apple is specifically referring to is not just the removal of Fortnite from the App Store. But also the revocation from the Apple developer program.
Epic Games isn’t likely to back down
If you’ve followed Tim Sweeney for any length of time on Twitter, you’ll see that this battle against companies like Apple and Google are not new.
The Epic Games CEO has been outspokenly against both companies for quite some time. Reiterating his belief that both companies are engaging in anti-competitive practices by blocking the capability to sell V-bucks without having to pay the fee. Or at least all 30-percent of it.
The whole thing is very similar to Sweeney’s fight against Steam, claiming its “monopoly” over PC gaming is anti-consumer and anti-developer. It isn’t likely then, that Sweeney and Epic Games will back down from this fight. Even though it deliberately caused these issues that are now facing them.
Things are about to get interesting for Fortnite players on mobile. Specifically on iOS.