Go ahead, guess.
It lasted, what, a couple months since the appeals were turned down by the Supreme Court? Well, hostilities have been opened up between Apple and Epic Games once again.
In this case, it came at a very specific time. iOS 17.4 just launched, notably with a feature to allow third part app stores in Europe to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). And at the same time as this new feature launched, they terminated Epic’s Developer Account, keeping them from launching just such a planned third-party app store.
Notably, in a string of emails shared in Epic’s blogpost on the matter, Apple’s lawyers referred to Epic as “verifiably untrustworthy” after Apple reached out to Tim Sweeney to have him explain just why Apple should trust them and allow Epic Games Sweden AB to become an active developer.
Needless to say, Tim’s not happy. And the bone of contention seems to be something he posted on Xitter back in late January:
And to be fair, Sweeney isn’t necessarily in the wrong, here, even if Epic is far from a disinterested party in all of this. Of the many stringent standards Apple has for these developer-based third party store apps, for example, is the Core Technology Fee. This essentially requires developers to pay a fee to Apple once their app reaches 1 million downloads, which is equal to about 54¢ per install per year. Which, for smaller developers who maybe got a big hit on their hands and didn’t price with this fee in mind, is an awful lot of money to pay yearly. In addition, developers need to show a letter from a top financial institution as proof that they have at least $1.1 million in credit to handle any potential financial disputes. There’s also a flat commission on each transaction, anywhere from 15% to 30%.
But back to the topic at hand. the emails in question amounted to the following:
“Why should we trust you?”
“C’mon, just trust me, bro!”
“No.”
Epic stated the following in their post:
In terminating Epic’s developer account, Apple is taking out one of the largest potential competitors to the Apple App Store. They are undermining our ability to be a viable competitor and they are showing other developers what happens when you try to compete with Apple or are critical of their unfair practices.
Apple, on the other hand, has fired back in a statement to 9to5mac:
Epic’s egregious breach of its contractual obligations to Apple led courts to determine that Apple has the right to terminate ‘any or all of Epic Games’ wholly owned subsidiaries, affiliates, and/or other entities under Epic Games’ control at any time and at Apple’s sole discretion.’ In light of Epic’s past and ongoing behavior, Apple chose to exercise that right.
Epic does, however, plan on releasing Fortnite on iOS again, though it may likely be through another developer’s third-party app. They’re also bringing experimental support for Unreal Engine to Apple’s Vision Pro headset.
The DMA (Digital Markets Act), for those not in the know, is a law meant to keep large corporations like Apple, Google and Microsoft from having too much market power and crowding out smaller companies. It’s essentially supposed to keep a “level playing field” for all of these companies, of sorts. As to whether it will actually accomplish this goal is difficult to tell at this point, though this story may cast some doubt on the possibility.
Source: Engadget
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