Epic Games vs. Apple: A Big Win For The Fortnite Developer And Others

For most people, Apple is known for its expensive products. But for developers, Apple is known for its walled-garden and its extremely restricted rules.

Apple governs everything in its ecosystem. Unlike Google and Android, or Microsoft and many others, Apple controls everything in its supply chain, as well as its services, in both software and hardware. This makes the company regarded as monopolistic.

Back in 2020, Epic Games' Fortnite game was kicked out of Apple's App Store.

The battle royale game was given the boot after it implemented its own in-app payment system. This angered Apple because it violated its policy, and because Epic Games bypassed its 30% fee.

Epic Games brought the case to the court by filing a lawsuit against the tech giant.

And this time, Apple's lucrative App Store business received a major blow, because a federal judge's decision in the company's legal battle that sided with Epic Games.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said that Apple can no longer prohibit app developers from providing links or other communications that direct users away from Apple in-app purchasing.

The decision concludes the first part of the battle between the two companies over Apple's App Store policies and whether they stifle competition. Apple won on 9 of 10 counts, but was found to engage in anticompetitive conduct under the law of California.

Because of that, the company is forced to change its App Store policies and loosen its grip over in-app purchases.

"The Court concludes that Apple's anti-steering provisions hide critical information from consumers and illegally stifle consumer choice," Rogers wrote. "When coupled with Apple's incipient antitrust violations, these anti-steering provisions are anticompetitive and a nationwide remedy to eliminate those provisions is warranted."

This addresses the longstanding developer complaints.

Soon after the news came out, Apple's App Store sales were disrupted, and its stock dropped by more than 2%.

It was reported that Cook's words in defense for Apple, include saying that Apple's rules for the App Store were meant to protect the promise the company makes to its users around "simplicity, safety, security, privacy, reliability, and quality." Cook's words were to answer the questions with the classic "that's not how we think about it" and "we believe this is best for users."

"They have a choice between many different Android models of smartphone or an iPhone, and that iPhone has a certain set of principles behind it, from safety and security to privacy," once said Cook, answering Rogers' question.

"We’ve made a choice. There are clearly other ways to monetize, but we chose this one, because we think this one overall is the best way."

Epic Games is among the most prominent companies that challenged Apple's control of its App Store, which has strict rules about what is allowed and not

While the judge favors Epic Games by allowing developers to link to third-party payments, Epic Games failed to prove that Apple is a monopolistic company.

"Given the trial record, the Court cannot ultimately conclude that Apple is a monopolist under either federal or state antitrust laws," Rogers wrote.

In its initial response, Apple did not say that it would appeal the junction.

"We are very pleased with the court's ruling and we consider this a huge win for Apple," Apple general counsel Kate Adams said.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney criticized the ruling in a statement on Twitter, saying that the ruling "isn't a win for developers or for consumers."

"Epic is fighting for fair competition among in-app payment methods and app stores for a billion consumers."