Apple Removes Fortnite from IOS over Contract Violation
- Thread starter GoldenHawk
- Start date
Apple can’t revoke Epic Games’ Unreal Engine developer tools, judge rules
But Fortnite stays off the App Store for now
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The first major court opinion in the legal battle between Apple and Fortnite developer Epic Games is (literally) a split decision: In an order filed late Monday, a federal judge ruled that Apple cannot terminate Epic’s access to Unreal Engine development tools on Apple platforms, but declined to grant Epic’s request to force Apple to allow Fortnite to return to the App Store.
The ruling, which is effective immediately, addresses Epic’s most pressing concern — the possibility that Apple would cut Epic off from Unreal Engine development on Apple’s operating systems as of Aug. 28. Epic had argued that it was a retaliatory move by Apple that would impact developers “well beyond video games.” Monday’s court decision, which partially granted a temporary restraining order against Apple, means that Epic will be able to maintain active development of the Unreal Engine on iOS and macOS. But when Fortnite chapter 2, season 4 goes live on Thursday, Aug. 27, iOS users won’t be able to play it because the game will remain unavailable on the App Store.
On Aug. 13, the Fortnite maker updated the iOS and Android versions of the game to introduce a payment option for V-Bucks that circumvented the respective billing systems on Apple’s and Google’s software marketplaces. In retaliation for that willful violation of their policies, both Google and Apple removed Fortnite from their stores, which led Epic to file antitrust lawsuits against both tech giants. In addition, Apple later threatened to block Epic from being able to continue updating the Unreal Engine on Apple platforms.
In her eight-page ruling, following oral arguments that took place over Zoom earlier that day, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said that while Epic had not yet demonstrated that it was likely to succeed on the merits of its antitrust complaint against Apple, “serious questions do exist” about Apple’s App Store policies. As for another legal consideration in deciding whether to award a temporary restraining order, Gonzalez Rogers said Epic “has made a preliminary showing of irreparable harm” when it came to the possibility of being blocked from Unreal Engine development.
Epic’s lawyers said during oral arguments that revoking the company’s access to developer privileges would make the Unreal Engine unusable on Apple platforms, and also said that developers are already “fleeing” from using it. In her ruling, the judge pointed out that for one thing, Epic Games International — which owns the Unreal Engine and maintains a contract with Apple for development rights — is a legally separate entity from the Fortnite maker. “For now, Epic International appears to have separate developer program license agreements with Apple and those agreements have not been breached,” said Gonzalez Rogers. In addition, said the judge, Apple’s action could have a devastating impact on many third-party developers who rely on the Unreal Engine.
However, Gonzalez Rogers said that Epic had not yet demonstrated that it would suffer irreparable harm if Fortnite — specifically, the version with “Epic direct payment” included — were not allowed back onto the App Store. During Monday’s hearing, Epic’s lawyers acknowledged that the company “understood” it was violating Apple’s rules, but said that it did so because the policies are anti-competitive (and thus, illegal in Epic’s view). But the judge essentially said that Epic got itself into this mess by breaking Apple’s rules, and can get itself out by going back to following them.
“Epic Games admits that the technology exists to ‘fix’ the problem easily by deactivating the ‘hotfix,’” said Gonzalez Rogers, referring to the Fortnite update that introduced the Epic direct payment option for V-Bucks. “That Epic Games would prefer not to litigate in that context does not mean that ‘irreparable harm’ exists.”
Finally, in weighing the public interest in this proceeding, Gonzalez Rogers said that while iOS users would surely love to keep playing Fortnite — especially in the midst of a pandemic — that isn’t enough to justify Epic breaking its contracts with Apple. On the Unreal Engine front, though, “the record shows potential significant damage to both the Unreal Engine platform itself, and to the gaming industry generally, including on both third-party developers and gamers,” the judge said. “Epic Games and Apple are at liberty to litigate against each other, but their dispute should not create havoc to bystanders.”
A hearing for a preliminary injunction, in which Epic Games is asking the court for stronger protections for its apps for the duration of the case, is now scheduled for Sept. 28.
But Fortnite stays off the App Store for now
The first major court opinion in the legal battle between Apple and Fortnite developer Epic Games is (literally) a split decision: In an order filed late Monday, a federal judge ruled that Apple cannot terminate Epic’s access to Unreal Engine development tools on Apple platforms, but declined to grant Epic’s request to force Apple to allow Fortnite to return to the App Store.
The ruling, which is effective immediately, addresses Epic’s most pressing concern — the possibility that Apple would cut Epic off from Unreal Engine development on Apple’s operating systems as of Aug. 28. Epic had argued that it was a retaliatory move by Apple that would impact developers “well beyond video games.” Monday’s court decision, which partially granted a temporary restraining order against Apple, means that Epic will be able to maintain active development of the Unreal Engine on iOS and macOS. But when Fortnite chapter 2, season 4 goes live on Thursday, Aug. 27, iOS users won’t be able to play it because the game will remain unavailable on the App Store.
On Aug. 13, the Fortnite maker updated the iOS and Android versions of the game to introduce a payment option for V-Bucks that circumvented the respective billing systems on Apple’s and Google’s software marketplaces. In retaliation for that willful violation of their policies, both Google and Apple removed Fortnite from their stores, which led Epic to file antitrust lawsuits against both tech giants. In addition, Apple later threatened to block Epic from being able to continue updating the Unreal Engine on Apple platforms.
In her eight-page ruling, following oral arguments that took place over Zoom earlier that day, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said that while Epic had not yet demonstrated that it was likely to succeed on the merits of its antitrust complaint against Apple, “serious questions do exist” about Apple’s App Store policies. As for another legal consideration in deciding whether to award a temporary restraining order, Gonzalez Rogers said Epic “has made a preliminary showing of irreparable harm” when it came to the possibility of being blocked from Unreal Engine development.
Epic’s lawyers said during oral arguments that revoking the company’s access to developer privileges would make the Unreal Engine unusable on Apple platforms, and also said that developers are already “fleeing” from using it. In her ruling, the judge pointed out that for one thing, Epic Games International — which owns the Unreal Engine and maintains a contract with Apple for development rights — is a legally separate entity from the Fortnite maker. “For now, Epic International appears to have separate developer program license agreements with Apple and those agreements have not been breached,” said Gonzalez Rogers. In addition, said the judge, Apple’s action could have a devastating impact on many third-party developers who rely on the Unreal Engine.
However, Gonzalez Rogers said that Epic had not yet demonstrated that it would suffer irreparable harm if Fortnite — specifically, the version with “Epic direct payment” included — were not allowed back onto the App Store. During Monday’s hearing, Epic’s lawyers acknowledged that the company “understood” it was violating Apple’s rules, but said that it did so because the policies are anti-competitive (and thus, illegal in Epic’s view). But the judge essentially said that Epic got itself into this mess by breaking Apple’s rules, and can get itself out by going back to following them.
“Epic Games admits that the technology exists to ‘fix’ the problem easily by deactivating the ‘hotfix,’” said Gonzalez Rogers, referring to the Fortnite update that introduced the Epic direct payment option for V-Bucks. “That Epic Games would prefer not to litigate in that context does not mean that ‘irreparable harm’ exists.”
Finally, in weighing the public interest in this proceeding, Gonzalez Rogers said that while iOS users would surely love to keep playing Fortnite — especially in the midst of a pandemic — that isn’t enough to justify Epic breaking its contracts with Apple. On the Unreal Engine front, though, “the record shows potential significant damage to both the Unreal Engine platform itself, and to the gaming industry generally, including on both third-party developers and gamers,” the judge said. “Epic Games and Apple are at liberty to litigate against each other, but their dispute should not create havoc to bystanders.”
A hearing for a preliminary injunction, in which Epic Games is asking the court for stronger protections for its apps for the duration of the case, is now scheduled for Sept. 28.
Epic Begs For Fortnite To Be Put Back Onto Apple's App Store In Court
Epic is now begging Apple to return Fortnite to its App Store, after the developer says it lost more than half its iOS user base following its ban.
In the ongoing lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple, Epic has now approached Apple to beg for Fortnite to be put back onto the App Store. The two companies are facing off in court following the battle royale being banned last month on iOS.
Fortnite was officially removed from the Apple App Store on August 13th, following the launch of Season 4 in-game across multiple platforms. The game was removed from iOS due to Epic's launch of Epic Direct, a new service for mobile users to purchase in-game currency. Epic Direct grants Epic the ability to completely cut out the mobile provider from the transaction, allowing the company to avoid paying the usual 30 percent cut for in-game purchases on mobile platforms. Following the announcement, Apple immediately pulled Fortnite from the Apple App Store, leading to a number of retaliations between the two companies since early August.
Now, it seems that Epic has called for a primary injunction against Apple, calling for the company to restore Fortnite to the App Store once more. Epic is filing the injunction on the grounds that the company will suffer “irreparable harm” during this period of downtime. The company went on to state that its daily active user count on iOS has dropped by 60 percent since Fortnite was removed from the App Store, with the latest season update not even making it to iOS. Epic called on the court to stop Apple from continuing to block Fortnite from its storefront, saying, "This is a necessary step to free consumers and developers from Apple's costly, anti-competitive control." Initially, Apple stated that it would allow Fortnite to return to the App Store if Epic removed Epic Direct from the platform. As of yet, Epic has not agreed to these terms, even with the courts siding with Apple's decision to ban Fortnite from iOS.
Epic is not the only company Apple is having issues with at the moment. Microsoft's vice president, Phil Spencer, is also backing Epic's stance against Apple in regards to the removal of Epic's Unreal Engine software from iOS and Mac systems. While Apple has the court's approval to keep Fortnite removed from the App Store, the move by the company to also terminate Epic's access to development tools on iOS and Mac was overruled.
It seems that lines are being drawn and sides chosen in this legal battle. Whether other tech companies choose to side with Epic or Apple could have a lasting impact on the industry. With Google taking Epic to court over the use of Epic Direct in Fortnite in its own separate case, the industry's entire handling of mobile payment practices could change in the aftermath of this case.
Source: Eurogamer
Epic is now begging Apple to return Fortnite to its App Store, after the developer says it lost more than half its iOS user base following its ban.
In the ongoing lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple, Epic has now approached Apple to beg for Fortnite to be put back onto the App Store. The two companies are facing off in court following the battle royale being banned last month on iOS.
Fortnite was officially removed from the Apple App Store on August 13th, following the launch of Season 4 in-game across multiple platforms. The game was removed from iOS due to Epic's launch of Epic Direct, a new service for mobile users to purchase in-game currency. Epic Direct grants Epic the ability to completely cut out the mobile provider from the transaction, allowing the company to avoid paying the usual 30 percent cut for in-game purchases on mobile platforms. Following the announcement, Apple immediately pulled Fortnite from the Apple App Store, leading to a number of retaliations between the two companies since early August.
Now, it seems that Epic has called for a primary injunction against Apple, calling for the company to restore Fortnite to the App Store once more. Epic is filing the injunction on the grounds that the company will suffer “irreparable harm” during this period of downtime. The company went on to state that its daily active user count on iOS has dropped by 60 percent since Fortnite was removed from the App Store, with the latest season update not even making it to iOS. Epic called on the court to stop Apple from continuing to block Fortnite from its storefront, saying, "This is a necessary step to free consumers and developers from Apple's costly, anti-competitive control." Initially, Apple stated that it would allow Fortnite to return to the App Store if Epic removed Epic Direct from the platform. As of yet, Epic has not agreed to these terms, even with the courts siding with Apple's decision to ban Fortnite from iOS.
Epic is not the only company Apple is having issues with at the moment. Microsoft's vice president, Phil Spencer, is also backing Epic's stance against Apple in regards to the removal of Epic's Unreal Engine software from iOS and Mac systems. While Apple has the court's approval to keep Fortnite removed from the App Store, the move by the company to also terminate Epic's access to development tools on iOS and Mac was overruled.
It seems that lines are being drawn and sides chosen in this legal battle. Whether other tech companies choose to side with Epic or Apple could have a lasting impact on the industry. With Google taking Epic to court over the use of Epic Direct in Fortnite in its own separate case, the industry's entire handling of mobile payment practices could change in the aftermath of this case.
Source: Eurogamer
Putting Tim Sweeney where he belongs.
Not even his supporters on PG can dare to defend him on this, its that bad lol
Not even his supporters on PG can dare to defend him on this, its that bad lol
Judge: Any decision regarding walled garden model could have significant and serious ramifications for Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft
Who wouldn't want to see Steam storefront on consoles? Or Game Pass on Playstation or Nintendo? Competition is best for consumers, right?
Precisely what I've been saying all along. Take your fight to these console manufacturers' walled garden already if you're not a hypocrite. Tim Sweeney is using fanboys to fuel this war when it had no legal grounds to stand on, all the while making deals with other walled gardens. So much for looking out for the developers lol
Who wouldn't want to see Steam storefront on consoles? Or Game Pass on Playstation or Nintendo? Competition is best for consumers, right?
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