A dispute is raging between Apple and "Fortnite" developer Epic Games over how apps can be sold on smartphones. A judge is now slowing the iPhone manufacturer – but the game developer is also taking a damper with the verdict.
In the dispute between the makers of the online game "Fortnite" and Apple, a judge in California slowed the iPhone company. For the time being, Apple may not remove the Unreal Engine graphics technology from Epic Games' developer platform. At the same time, however, in her urgent decision she rejected Epic's request to reverse the removal of the game "Fortnite" from the App Store.
The dispute, which Epic is also waging against Google, is about the fundamental question of how apps are sold on smartphones – and how much money from the purchase price platforms such as Apple's App Store or the Google Play Store are allowed to withhold. Epic no longer wanted to adhere to the requirement that had been in force for more than a decade that virtual items in the game on iPhones and iPads can only be offered through Apple's in-app purchases system, where Apple withholds 30 percent of the purchase price .
After Apple rejected changes to the terms and conditions, the developers built into the app the contractually prohibited option to buy the items directly from Epic. For this purpose, a hidden functionality was activated in the application that Epic had smuggled past the app reviewers of the group. On the same day, Apple threw "Fortnite" with reference to the rule violation from the App Store.
In "Fortnite" deliberately violate the rules
In addition, Epic should lose access to Apple's developer program at the end of August. Among other things, this would mean that the Unreal Engine could no longer be adapted to new versions of Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones and iPads. This would also affect apps from other providers, such as Microsoft, which use the Unreal Engine.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stepped in precisely because of this. She argued that kicking Unreal Engine out of the developer program would cause significant damage to the platform and the entire industry. The game developer is also helped by the fact that the Unreal Engine is located at the Swiss subsidiary Epic International. The judge argued that, unlike Epic Games, the daughter had not violated her agreements with Apple.
In the case of "Fortnite", however, she decided that Epic had deliberately violated the rules with the app and therefore did not need to be protected. The judge initially decided on a provisional injunction, the sides are now to present arguments for the further proceedings in September.
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