In a tweet by the official Epic Games account on twitter, Apple has threatened, and plans to terminate all of Epic Games developer accounts in addition to cutting Epic Games off from iOS and Mac development tools. This feud originally started with Apple removing Fortnite from the Apple app store.
Not long after Apple removed Fortnite from the app store, google followed suit with the Play Store for Android. The cause for removal stems from Epic Games attempting to circumvent the App Store payment process, which took a cut of 30% of all transactions through the store.
Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store and has informed Epic that on Friday, August 28 Apple will terminate all our developer accounts and cut Epic off from iOS and Mac development tools. We are asking the court to stop this retaliation. Details here: https://t.co/3br1EHmyd8
— Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom) August 17, 2020
The legal document goes into detail of Apples retaliation against Epic.
“It (Apple) told Epic that by August 28, Apple will cut off Epic’s access to all development tools necessary to create software for Apple’s platforms—including for the Unreal Engine Epic offers to third-party developers, which Apple has never claimed violated any Apple policy.”
While Epic Games moves to also have Fortnite returned to both mobile app stores, the document goes on to state that Epic is seeking the preliminary injunction to prohibit Apple from taking action against other games just because they utilize the Unreal Engine, and argues that this move is due to retaliation.
As the battle between the two companies continues, the ramifications could cascade, might we see other gaming companies begin to take sides? After all, Sony recently invested heavily into Fortnite.
