Fortnite developer Epic Games announces that it is filing a lawsuit against iPhone maker Apple over its App Store policies. The announcement comes not long after Apple removed the iOS version of Fortnite from the App Store for violating the storefront's rules.
In response to Apple's removal of Fortnite from the App Store, Epic Games has filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. "Epic brings this suit to end Apple’s unfair and anti-competitive actions that Apple undertakes to unlawfully maintain its monopoly in two distinct, multibillion dollar markets: (i) the iOS App Distribution Market, and (ii) the iOS In-App Payment Processing Market," explains the court documents.
Unlike other lawsuits, such as when a California man sued Twitch over "scantily clad" women, Epic says that it isn't looking for "monetary compensation." What the company does want though, is "injunctive relief to allow fair competition in these two key markets that directly affect hundreds of millions of consumers and tens of thousands, if not more, of third-party app developers."
Epic Games calls out the "oppressive" terms and conditions that Apple enforces in order for iOS app developers to get their games on the App Store. The company highlights the 30% cut that Apple takes on the sale of App Store apps and in-app purchases. This same charge is the reason why Epic Games lowered the price of Fortnite's V-Bucks and allowed players to pay it directly when buying the in-game currency. This will also have been why Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store.
This is far from the first time that Epic Games have criticized Apple or any other platform for charging high fees on game and microtransaction sales. Just last month, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that Apple had "gone crazy" with its App Store fees and said that the company was "fundamentally wrong" in its decision to block "competition and choice" on iOS devices.
Criticism of Steam's fees is also why Epic Games launched the Epic Games Store, where it takes a lower percentage of game sales compared to the Valve-owned storefront. While Fortnite is now available on Google Play, it didn't launch there, with Android gamers having to download another launcher to play the game.
Epic Games isn't the only one with its eye on Apple. The European Union is now investigating Apple over its decision to block Microsoft's Project xCloud from the App Store and the company was the subject of a Congressional hearing on anti-trust, which Epic also quoted in this lawsuit. That hearing looked at several major tech companies, such as Facebook, Amazon, and Google, but it shows that there is a much bigger conversation happening here about whether the policies enforced by these companies are fair or not. While many have asked that question, this Epic Games lawsuit could provide the answer.
Source: Epic Games