The Epic Games Store app has been officially available for a few days and brought Fortnite back to the Europe region with the release of the new app in the EU. However, it was not an easy battle to achieve this feat, as Epic Games had to compete against two tech giants, Google and Apple, in its quest to get the new store app. Epic has been in a legal battle with Apple and Google since August 2020. Apple’s decision came in September 2021, but Google’s was not until December 2023. In both cases, the issue was the respective tech giant’s control over the respective app store.
The Apple case was about the share that Apple keeps from every App Store purchase. Epic objected to the 30 percent share and wanted to either avoid the App Store payment or have Apple keep a smaller share. On August 13, 2020, Epic introduced changes in Fortnite to encourage players to pay for in-game purchases outside of the App Store. Apple filed a countersuit and withdrew Fortnite from the App Store – Google did the same with the Play Store – hence the need for its return.
The first ruling found in Apple’s favor on nine out of ten counts, with Apple’s conduct in enforcing anti-steering restrictions being anti-competitive and ruled in Epic’s favor. This final ruling made it impossible for Apple to prevent apps from redirecting their users to payment pages not affiliated with Apple or to the App Store, although Apple added special clauses to its policy change that CEO Tim Sweeny said were in bad faith with the court orders. While the two appeal attempts in that case were rejected and all charges except the anti-steering charge were dropped, the ensuing back-and-forth between the two companies eventually led to Epic Games committing to its own App Store. But that’s only half the story.
The Epic v. Google case focused on Google’s practices as a dominant tech giant to make the Play Store indispensable. Unlike the Apple case, the jury found in Epic’s favor on all counts, and Epic has since submitted its proposed remedies, which were first heard by a jury on August 14, 2024. These remedies are similar but more comprehensive than those in the Apple case, and go beyond a mere anti-steering measure.
Earlier this week, Epic released its App Store in the EU for iOS and Android and brought Fortnite back to the store. In the course of this opening, CEO Sweeney commented on the losses that Epic has suffered in this feud, around one billion dollars in Fortnite However, he is happy about Epic’s victory and hopes that the decisions will lead to new freedoms for developers in the world of mobile gaming.
