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Epic's Fortnite Ban And Apple/Google Legal Battle, Explained

With the trial set to begin in a matter of days, here's everything you need to know about the court case and more.

The trial between tech giants Apple and Epic Games is beginning in mere days. Following its removal from the iOS App Store and Android’s Google Play Store in 2020, Epic's battle royale game Fortnite remains unavailable on those platforms and the fight between Epic, Apple, and Google has only heated up more intensely. The fundamental way in which Epic is trying to disrupt how these mobile app stores operate is at stake in the trial, which is set to begin May 3. Below you can find a full explainer and rundown of everything we know so far. This will continue to receive updates as there are further developments.

What Happened to Fortnite on iOS And Android?

Last August, Epic discounted the price of V-Bucks, Fortnite's in-game currency, and began selling them directly to players, offering an alternative to using Apple and Google's built-in stores. These purchases would go entirely to Epic, and offering them at a discount clearly aimed to steer consumers toward the direct payments.

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Now Playing: Epic Vs Apple Explained

All of this set off alarm bells among observers--bypassing Apple and Google in such a way violates their respective store policies, and Apple unsurprisingly pulled Fortnite from the App Store within a few hours. Google followed suit the same day.

The moves by Apple and Google rendered it impossible to download Fortnite through their respective stores, but the game remained somewhat playable under certain circumstances.

A Coordinated Rollout

It's clear that Epic knew exactly what would unfold once it launched direct payments. Almost the instant Fortnite was banned from the App Store, Epic announced a new short that spearheaded a detailed PR campaign, taking satirical aim at Apple and urging fans to "Free Fortnite."

It's this aspect of the entire ordeal that has proven particularly controversial. A legal fight over money between two massive corporations might be hard to care about. Or perhaps you side with Epic due to its argument that it's doing this to help everyone, not just Epic's bottom line. But attempting to weaponize the anger of gamers, particularly younger players who are likely to fall in Fortnite's mobile audience, has rubbed some the wrong way.

At the same time as this was happening, Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging antitrust violations. The entire filing contains some eye-opening language, and the opening of the preliminary statement in particular is designed to grab the attention of consumers.

So, Why Is Epic Suing Apple And Google?

Epic's lawsuits aren't about Fortnite being removed from the app stores. However, it's clear it deliberately took a provocative step (introducing direct payments) that it knew would result in the game being banned to add fuel to its lawsuit. Instead, it's suing over antitrust violations, arguing that Apple and Google operate monopolies over their respective mobile platforms.

Epic has spent the past nine months or so trying to clearly position itself as the good guy in this fight: It says it isn't seeking monetary compensation, nor is it looking for a special exception for Fortnite or Epic as a whole. Instead, it wants to see changes in the way these platforms operate, allowing for alternative payment methods and storefronts that could offer more competitive rates than the 30% cut they take. The suits both call this rate "exorbitant," comparing it with the average of 3% that other payment operators take for software sales on, say, a Mac.

In the first suit, Epic states that the "anti-competitive consequences of Apple's conduct are pervasive," arguing how central mobile devices--which are subject to the 30% fee--are to people's lives. "When these devices are unfairly restricted and extortionately 'taxed' by Apple, the consumers who rely on these mobile devices to stay connected in the digital age are directly harmed."

In short, Epic is arguing that Apple has put developers in an unfair position, as the only means for selling software on iOS is to use the App Store--other options for distribution are not allowed. Epic says that it would offer its own competing store, were it allowed to do so.

Alongside the lawsuit, Epic has its more public-facing statements available on its website. It does not shy away from taking shots at Apple, going so far as to say, "Apple intentionally sabotages consumer iOS devices to prevent users from installing software directly from developers, as consumers are free to do on PC and Mac." It also notes that direct payments are allowed in certain types of apps, but that games are not allowed to operate in this way. It further points out that it believes the workarounds used by services like Netflix are "user-unfriendly," saying, "Apple prohibits apps like Netflix from even telling customers how to pay for their subscription service outside of the app. Epic wants to give all customers simple, in-app purchasing options free of Apple obstruction."

Following Apple's removal of Fortnite from the App Store, it issued the following statement to GameSpot in which Apple explained that Epic’s decisions violated the App Store guidelines. Apple further argued that Epic is seeking a special arrangement, but Apple is unwilling to give in.

"Today, Epic Games took the unfortunate step of violating the App Store guidelines that are applied equally to every developer and designed to keep the store safe for our users. As a result their Fortnite app has been removed from the store. Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services."

In its suit against Google, Epic brought up Google’s infamous "don't be evil motto" and asserted that Google is "unlawfully" maintaining monopolies across markets and denying users the freedom to choose how they want to enjoy content.

For its part, Google maintains that it has "consistent policies that are fair to developers and keep the store safe for users."

Epic Has Support

Whether you'd argue that Epic is only fighting for itself or everyone (as it claims to be), there are countless developers that stand to be impacted by a shift in how these mobile ecosystems operate. This issue of payment services is a long-running issue--it's why you can't buy comics through the iOS Comixology app, for instance--and some companies wasted little time in speaking out publicly in support of Epic, including Spotify and Tinder.

Gabe Newell, who owns Valve and the Steam storefront, said in an interview with Edge that Valve takes issue with "people trying to preclude competition" as opposed to competition itself.

"If you ask us which is scarier, it's people falling in love with Apple's model of controlling everything and having faceless bureaucrats who get to keep your product from entering the market if they don't want it to, or designing a store in a way that minimizes software's value-add to experience and stuff like that,” Newell said.

Epic has also recruited like-minded developers to its lobbying effort, The Coalition for App Fairness. The organization spearheaded by Epic Games has a mission statement and values very similar to those expressed by Epic itself, but it has the collective support of other tech companies like Spotify and Basecamp.

This Doesn't Come Out of Nowhere

While the exact approach Epic has taken in this situation may be somewhat of a surprise, its campaign against these sorts of dominant ecosystems is nothing new. After all, it was Steam's dominance in the PC games space (with an equivalent 30% cut for Valve) that led to the Epic Games Store and its ongoing campaign of free game giveaways and exclusives. The EGS charges a much smaller commission at 12%.

The Game Developers Conference recently released the results of its 2021 developer survey, and only 3 percent of respondents said they believe the 70/30 revenue share model is fair.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has also long been outspoken on such topics. He's railed against Microsoft on numerous occasions for monopolizing PC games in years past (areas in which it has changed its approach), while at this year's DICE he attacked Apple and Google. He called Android a "fake open system" because of the way Google inhibited its ability to let users sideload Fortnite, rather than downloading it through the Google Play Store (which it was unavailable through for a long time). "Undue power has accrued to participants in the supply chain who are not at the core of the industry," he said at the time.

He told GameSpot in June 2020 that Epic planned to launch the Epic Games Store on iOS and Android, which was somewhat eyebrow-raising given Apple's policies. More recently, it was revealed that Epic is intentionally withholding Fortnite from releasing on Xbox Cloud Streaming.

Apple hasn't been pulling its punches in response. The company claims Epic's moves were part of a plan called "Project Liberty," an intentional effort to create a legal dispute that would revive "flagging" interest in Fortnite. We may see more of this documentation presented at the trial.

More broadly speaking, there have been ongoing antitrust investigations as of late, with executives from Apple, Google, and other companies recently being summoned before the United States Congress. This was a hot topic even before Epic got involved so directly.

The Court Case And What's At Stake

The Epic vs. Apple situation has escalated to the point where a trial has been scheduled to begin on May 3, and it could have major ramifications for both companies and the technology space in general. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and Apple CEO Tim Cook have been ordered to take the stand and testify, with Sweeney on the hook to testify for eight hours and Cook facing examination for about two hours.

Based on what we know so far, Sweeney is expected to focus his testimony on Epic’s business model and practices, along with its discussions with Apple, Google, and Samsung. For its part, Samsung devices still have a version of Fortnite available through a workaround of sorts. Cook, meanwhile, is expected to discuss the App Store, Apple’s overall corporate strategy and values, and how it deals with competitors in the app space.

A tentative witness list has emerged as well, with executives from Microsoft, Facebook, and Nvidia expected to attend and weigh in. Apple had tried to block Epic from calling witness to the stand, but a judge denied this request.

The trial is expected to run for a period of three weeks.

In a worst-case scenario for Apple, Epic (and others) would be allowed to open their own competing App Stores on Apple’s own platform. This could allow for a massive shift with ramifications well beyond the world of video games. This may not be a likely result, but it’s something that Epic floated recently in its antitrust filing.

There are plenty of unanswered questions and uncertainties about this case, but the potential for this trial to set a precedent in the app marketplace is a huge opportunity and it’s seemingly why Epic is trying so hard to stand up for what it believes to be right and fair.

The bottom line for now is this: None of these companies are going to back down, and Epic clearly came to fight. There are major ramifications at stake here, as Epic could force concessions that impact a huge array of mobile apps and pave the way for a reshaping of how those ecosystems operate. Apple is trying to maintain a status quo, so almost any shift from the current legal state would represent a compromise for Cupertino.

With the trial scheduled to begin May 3, you can expect lots more coverage in the days and weeks ahead, so keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

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liggerz87

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Heads up galaxy store also removed it

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Ultramarinus

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It's like Godzilla vs Muto.

"Let them fight."

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deth420

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30%, the outrage. if epic was concerned enough about 30% cuts to open their own store and make games exclusive to their store.

Then why dont they do this with the phone stores. they could make their own store, and promote how they are taking on the man.

I hope these guys fade way

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Atzenkiller

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@deth420: They could do that with Android but Jobs has designed his iOS to forbid people from installing things through any other way than their own store. And who would really care about Epic's store on Android devices anyway? Not that they couldn't do it and make it relatively successful. But I'm not sure if they're capable of it. And how well is their PC store actually doing now?

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Pyrosa

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@deth420: You clearly don't understand either Android or iOS, and signed vs unsigned package installation (i.e. OS security).

They DID EXACTLY THAT when they started. Both Apple and Google wrapped their talons around them.

Enjoy your 420.

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deth420

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@Pyrosa: oh dont get me wrong, I dont care for apple or google either. apple has always been crap, and google has been showing how gross they are as well.

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Litchie

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Litchie  Online

*Grabs popcorn

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icevitaman359

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Couldn't Apple make the case that Tencent, a pawn for the Chinese government that may be spying on people, partially owns Fortnite (40 percent stake I believe)?

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BtotheOtotheJtotheF

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@icevitaman359: I think it has to own a majority of shares for it to be a case but I could be wrong

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subsided94

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Edited By subsided94

Not like Apple has a monopoly, just a closed ecosystem that everyone that buys Apple is completely aware of, like it or not Epic shouldn't be able to circumvent the rules, people should absolutely just stop buying Apple products but I don't see what legal ground Epic actually has here

End of the day this is intended for the public to rage against apple, even though this company, and primarily Tencent, are hardly consumer friendly

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Pyrosa

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@subsided94: I'll be at ~200 completely free games on Epic Games Store by ~Dec.

That consumer-friendly enough for you?

Every one of those devs got paid for those.

That dev-friendly enough for you?

Sure they're an easy target. But Epic has been fighting the right fight for the right people this whole time.

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Daidochus

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Edited By Daidochus

@Pyrosa: When I want kids to come to my candy store and by candies from me and not from the other one down the road, I offer 2 free candies each month, and I would do this not for them being such lovely kids, no but for luring them in so that they buy from me in the future.

Poor Pyrosa, like a kid getting candy from Epic. Like Atzenkiller said, as soon as Epic has reached its goal they will stop. It's their marketing strategy to lure in simps.

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Atzenkiller

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@Pyrosa: You're a clown. Epic has been paying for all those free games out of their own pocket because that's their marketing campaign. They're not doing it because they're so nice and you shouldn't expect them to keep doing this indefinitely. If they had already overtaken Steam then they'd probably have stopped offering anything for free long ago. But good job taking advantage of free marketing offers. You're a real freedom fighter.

You could have mentioned that Epic is taking much more acceptable shares but instead all you talked about is the free games they've been offering to lure people in. That's how much you care about those developers, huh?

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subsided94

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@Pyrosa: lol, but not really, they are doing those things to attract users, with epic games store they're a tiny fish against a titan and they want to be the market leader then they control the prices. And they are rampant with loot boxes and microtransactions, especially from the likes of Tencent

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SystemOverload

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Edited By SystemOverload

Epic disrupting Valve’a and Apple‘s evil business practices...

Apple’s parody of 1984 to encourage change then fast forward to Epic’s parody of Apple’s parody of 1984 to encourage change.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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I hope nobody believes Epic is doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. I wonder what they're up to...starting their own universal app store, maybe?

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Thanatos2k

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@Barighm: If they could, they would have. They didn't sue Steam, they made their own store so they'd keep 100% of the whale cash.

But they can't do that here and they know it. So they lash out with this lawsuit that will fail, which is why they're trying to curry "support" from others.

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Pyrosa

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@Barighm: Like I said, they should have bought Essential Phone.

"Epic Phone:

"PhoneNite"

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Ultramarinus

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@Barighm: Of course it's about porting their own store to every platform out there, the rate of cut isn't the issue here for Epic. It's about Epic getting all the money instead and get cuts from other apps too. Of course they won't present it like that.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@Ultramarinus: So, basically everything I said but with a patronizing tone. "I agree" would have sufficed.

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Ultramarinus

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@Barighm: What you and I wrote aren't exactly the same thing though. You floated a suggestion, I proposed it as a definitive claim and expanded further on that. Neither "I agree" nor "I disagree" would fit there and I'd have just upvoted if I wanted to merely agree in the first place.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@Ultramarinus: You're right. The actual wording wasn't the same, but the meanings were. You chose a blunt path and sounded like a jerk in the process whereas I chose a path that invoked thought that led to the same result. It's no different than if I said "The sky is pretty. I wonder what it's like up there?" and you reply "Lol! Stupid! It's all vacuum and cold and horrible !" Well, duh. I wasn't looking for the basic answer, but the answers to all the questions that came from exploring the thought I put out there.

And clearly other people agree with me given I got the upvotes.

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Ultramarinus

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Edited By Ultramarinus

@Barighm: Take your upvotes and stuff them in your pillow if that's what makes you sleep at night. I couldn't care less. If you're this touchy, you'll need a lot of them to keep you through those nights though.

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mogan

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mogan  Moderator

@Barighm: I think Epic's said they wanted a better split on the App Store in the past, so my guess is that this to get Apple to renegotiate their 30% take, and that Epic would put happily take the dedicated payment method out of Fortnite if the Apple agreed to only take, say ... 12% of the microtransactions.

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sty1e_bender

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@mogan: that’s true but ..... Apple’s revenue from Fortnite is not the same as Fortnite’s revenue from Apple. One relies much much more on the other...... Guess which one.

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mogan

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@sty1e_bender: There’s still the Xbox, PlayStation, and PC versions of Fortnite. I can’t imagine Epic pulled this stunt now if they didn’t think they could forgo the mobile versions long enough to convince Apple and Google to renegotiate.

Apple and Google are both huge compared to Epic though, so naybe Epic’s plan is to rally support from the players and companies like Microsoft, who wants to get X-Cloud in iOS.

It’ll be interesting to see how this goes.

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sty1e_bender

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Edited By sty1e_bender

@mogan: I agree.

I just don’t see the transactions in the mobile being that all to convincing. With a reported 12% of players playing on mobile, it’s not even a blink for Apple to lose the transactions. But that % of your base, is a lot more delicate for Epic.

Source: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/fortnite-statistics/

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@mogan: So it's a gong show. Yeah, that makes sense.

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gotrekfabian

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Apple needs to die already. Overpriced devices, excessive royalties, deliberately making old devices redundant, they're about as anti-consumer as an organisation can get and yet have a ridiculously loyal user base who purchase new phones from them on an annual/bi-annual basis.

Business is business but how this extortionate model keeps going is beyond me. Good luck Epic, you deserve this one.

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BtotheOtotheJtotheF

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@gotrekfabian: the consumerist culture is what needs to die. its deeply toxic

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Pyrosa

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@btotheotothejtothef: $1400 mobile phones.

Margin is about 50% at this point.

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evilross

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So Epic is basically saying:

“ We want to use your platforms for distribution and services, but we don’t want to pay you for it.”

And somehow this is Apples fault? They are not a charity service, and it’s not their responsibility to host your crappy games for free.

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Ultramarinus

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@evilross: Apple's fault is that everybody have to pay them for being hosted and they cannot host their own stuff. It's rather the absolute walled garden rather than rate of cut. Epic wants it a free market like the PC. I assume they'll challenge Microsoft, Sony and even Nintendo later if they can win this.

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SaturatedButter

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Edited By SaturatedButter

@evilross: I think what they’re saying is more like “hey, Amazon and Netflix have apps on your store. They make huge revenue through those apps and you’re not taking a 30% cut of those sales/subscriptions.” Ultimately, these app stores have an exemption from the 70/30 cut in their terms of service that allows a different payment method for goods/services that can be consumed outside of the app. Epic is arguing that their premium currency should count as an “outside of app” sale because V-Bucks can be spent on PC, PlayStation, Xbox or any platform that has Fortnite.

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5tu88sy

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@evilross: This crappy game makes > $2,000,000,000 a year. Apple want their share and I don't blame them!

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subsided94

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Apple overcharges sure but I get why apple did it, epic is just trying to get away with paying apple nothing, and of course apple would respond In this way

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11770

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I'm a bit confused here, how is epic expecting to win this case against Apple controlling their own market for apps? I mean the iOS Market for app or products did not exist until it was created by Apple right? This would be like trying to sue Steam for taking your app/ off their store for breaking their terms of service or suing Google for the same thing on the Google App Store.

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SaturatedButter

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Edited By SaturatedButter

@11770: 1. The App Store has apps that sell stuff, and those sales aren’t subject to a 30% tax. Only games get this treatment.

2. Epic argues they didn’t actually violate the terms of service because they believe the sale of their premium currency should count as a sale of an “outside of app” goods/service since it can be spent on any other platform linked to the same Epic account.

3. iOS doesn’t really have other app stores. You need to be on Apple’s store if you want to get on consumer iOS devices. So they’re arguing that Apple is violating certain anti-trust regulations and laws regarding monopolies.

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Ultramarinus

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@11770: Unlike Steam, (which is not a platform but a storefront) there's no way to install an app on the platform other than Apple's own store. It's already unbelievable that MS putting IE on Win XP got hit by anti-trust laws while Apple got away with this until now.

Rather than changing the 30% commission rate, it'd be a digital revolution if Apple's walled garden is finally destroyed so that people can get apps from other sources on iOS. I'm not holding my breath that Epic can do this but it's high time it happened.

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m4a5

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Edited By m4a5

@Ultramarinus: Yup, this. If Apple wants to be a popular and widely used platform, they can't also have that walled garden.

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allencc3

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@11770: Lastly, Fortnite is trash!!

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mogan

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mogan  Moderator

Nineteen Eight Fortnite? Jeez. Sure is pandering the internet with that one.

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Ultramarinus

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@mogan: While I hate Epic as much as I hate Apple, finally someone reversed Apple's famous 36 year old ad against themselves as Apple became everything they warned against in that ad back then. I'm more surprised someone else didn't do it until now.

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mogan

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mogan  Moderator

@Ultramarinus: As dumb as all of it is, I kind of like the idea of this being the WWE of corporate rivalries.

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Ultramarinus

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@mogan: Both companies don't hold back when making inflammatory ads so this conflict should provide good entertainment in the months to follow.

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lonewolf1044

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Heck I do not buy apps for IOS anyway as I do not game on Apple so does not matter to me.

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m4a5

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Edited By m4a5

And the war against Apple's walled garden has started.

One of the first fights they've taken that I actually agree with (against the Apple walled garden)...

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