In August of last year, Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple over in-app purchases and the fees associated with them. A judge just took Epic's side and officially issued Apple an injunction that will allow better third-party purchase options in App Store apps.
The United States District Court has concluded the lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple in a manner that pleases both parties. Although the ruling will impact Apple the most, Judge Gonzalez-Rogers still disagreed with Epic Games' definition of a digital marketplace and its claims about monopolistic practices at Apple. Judge Gonzalez-Rogers was able to define the United State's stance on the financial dispute, setting a standard for existing and future app stores.
Other than Fortnite returning to iOS, most Fortnite fans won't see much results from the conclusion of this lawsuit between Apple and Epic. Epic Games will be able to keep more of the revenue generated by v-bucks sales as a result of this injunction. A customer's account registration through an app and their in-app purchases are linked, allowing companies like Epic Games to sell content separately from Apple's App Store.
During the lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games, a lot of details about Fortnite were revealed. According to the lawsuit, Fortnite players spent almost $1.2 billion through Apple's App Store, generating over $100 million in revenue for Apple due to its App Store transaction fee. Apple saw this fee as an operating cost, but Epic's lawsuit was fueled by the company seeing it as a monopolistic tax.
Judge Gonzalez-Rogers specified the external links, metadata buttons, and other actions that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms in order to reduce confusion about where Apple's injunction will apply. Apple already implemented some changes to its App Store on September 1 in order to provide iOS users with outside signup links for “reader apps" such as Netflix and Spotify. These changes have been implemented due to Apple's lawsuit with Epic as well as a regulatory investigation in Japan and a recent South Korean law.
According to Judge Gonzalez-Rogers a digital mobile game purchase isn't akin to digital purchases in the gaming industry as a whole. The judge also stated that Apple's internal operating systems related to the App Store weren't entirely in question either. Although Apple has been hit with a permanent injunction, the judge noticed questionable details from both sides of the lawsuit.
Judge Gonzalez-Rogers' ruling didn't side with Epic Games in its claims about Apple being a monopolist. Federal and state antitrust laws show that Apple isn't a monopolist, but Apple is apparently engaging in "anti-competitive conduct" under California’s competition laws. This may be part of the reason Apple has received the permanent injunction.
Fortnite is available right now for Mac, mobile, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: US District Court (via The Verge)