by Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton warned major tech platforms on Thursday to refrain from threatening developers, indicating he would look into Apple’s decision to block Epic Games , publisher of the video game “Fortnite”, to launch its own online application store for iPhones and iPads.
Apple on Wednesday revoked a new developer account created by Epic in Sweden in an effort to make “Fortnite” and other video games available again on iPhones in Europe through its own alternative online store.
The Apple firm justified its decision by citing previous contract violations by Epic in the long-standing legal dispute between the two groups.
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Epic wants to take advantage of the “Digital Markets Act”, which came into force on Thursday in the European Union, which requires Apple to open its ecosystem to its competitors.
Thierry Breton criticized Apple’s decision, saying via social network X that the DMA left “no room” for tech giants to “threaten to silence” developers.
“I have asked our services to look into Apple’s revocation of Epic’s developer contract,” he added, referring to a “priority issue”.
Earlier Thursday, the European Commission said it had asked Apple for explanations to determine whether the American technology giant’s measure is an attack on the bloc’s new rules.
“We have requested additional explanations from Apple in the context of the DMA regulation,” a spokesperson for the EU executive said in an email.
“We are also evaluating whether Apple’s actions raise concerns about their compliance with DSA (Digital Services Act) and P2B (platform-to-business) regulations, given the links between developer program membership and the App Store as a VLOP (very large online platforms)”.
Under the Digital Services Regulations (DSA), suspending or terminating an account must be a legitimate and proportionate decision, while the P2B Regulations require a platform to inform the business user of any changes to the terms of use and that she notifies him before closing an account.
Apple reaffirmed Thursday that it had exercised its rights, as established by the courts.
“Epic’s blatant violation of its contractual obligations to Apple led the courts to determine that Apple had the right to terminate any or all of Epic Games’ wholly owned subsidiaries, affiliates and/or other entities under control of Epic Games, at any time and at the sole discretion of Apple,” said a spokesperson for the group.
“In light of Epic’s past and present conduct, Apple has chosen to exercise this right.”
Epic said Wednesday that Apple is primarily aiming to keep one of the App Store’s biggest potential competitors out of the picture.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; French version Gaëlle Sheehan and Jean Terzian, editing by Zhifan Liu)
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