Another chapter in the seemingly never-ending battle between Apple and Epic: perhaps the former was afraid of the European Commission and left.
John Gabor
09.03.2024 – It seems that Apple is not missing out on more significant sanctions imposed on it in the European Union, because it is retracting a decision that a few days ago caused a serious scandal, according to which it terminated the account of the developer of Epic Games Switzerland AB. As we wrote, the publisher wanted to use this to bring the Epic Games Store and Fortnite, at least to European iOS devices (if it can't do so elsewhere), in accordance with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). Apparently, Apple did not find a loophole to keep the Fortnite publisher away.
Source: Epic Games
The background to the case is that Epic previously exceeded the App Store's 30 percent platform fees with Fortnite's direct payment option, which resulted in the game being taken down and Epic's original developer account terminated. According to the DMA that has since come into force, you can no longer do this, so you recently approved the Epic Games Switzerland AB account written above, but then removed it as well. The game publisher responded by saying that “this is a serious violation of the DMA and shows that Apple has no intention of allowing real competition on iOS devices,” and subsequently initiated proceedings against the iPhone maker.
That was enough to punish Apple
The latest Apple-Epic development is the latest Post it: “Apple has notified us and committed to the European Commission to reinstate our developer account. This sends a strong signal to developers that the European Commission will act quickly to enforce the Digital Markets Act and hold gatekeepers accountable.” The publisher noted: As a result of the positive decision for him, he is moving forward with his plans and as quickly as possible, he will launch the Epic Games Store on iOS, where Fortnite will also return, of course.
Online gaming operators may soon be worried because of this:
Let's consume bandwidth with online game! Is the Internet ready for this?
