Less than a month after Epic Games secured its European developer account on iOS in order to push titles like Fortnite through Europe, the developer claims that Apple terminated its account.
Whether it's retaliation or something else, it looks like we didn't see the end of the Apple and Epic Games feud at the conclusion of its lawsuit in September 2021.
Let's see what both sides had to say (allegedly).
Apple vs. Epic Games... again
According to EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple is required to let users install apps from third-party sources. By not allowing third-party app stores like Epic Games Store to operate on iOS, Apple is violating that DMA.
According to Epic Games, Apple claimed that one of the reasons the termination occurred was over a X/Tweet written by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. The thread criticized Apple's proposed DMA compliance plan.
Epic Games claims that Apple stated that Epic is a "threat to their ecosystem." Its blog post goes on to showcase email correspondences between Apple and Epic representatives. Taking these emails at face value, Apple states that Epic Games would fail to “adhere to its contractual commitments” and its account would be “a vehicle to manipulate proceedings in other jurisdictions.”
Regardless of the validity of the claims, the Epic Games Sweden AB developer account has been terminated. I highly doubt this is the last we'll hear about this, and next thing you know we'll find ourselves in a courtroom once again.
Here's hoping that our friends across the pond will be playing Fortnite sooner rather than later.
