BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Fortnite maker Epic Games has slammed its fight against Apple to European Union antitrust regulators, sparking controversy with the iPhone maker over its App Store payment system and app download control.
The two companies have been embroiled in a legal dispute since last August, when game maker Apple tried to avoid a 30% fee on some in-app purchases in the App Store by launching its own in-app payment system.
Apple has kicked off Epic’s Fortnite game from the App Store and threatened to terminate an affiliate account that would effectively block the distribution of Unreal Engine, a software tool used by hundreds of app makers to create games.
Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said Apple’s control of its platform had tipped the playing field.
‘The 30% they charge as their app tax can make it 50% or 90% or 100%. “According to their theory of how these markets are structured, they have every right to do so,” he told reporters.
“Epic is not asking any court or regulator to turn this 30% into another number, but only to restore competition on iOS,” he said, referring to Apple’s mobile operating system.
The company also accused Apple of failing to launch its own game subscription service on their platform by preventing competitors from merging multiple games, even though its own Apple Arcade service does.
Apple said that its rules apply equally to all developers and that Epic has violated them.
“In a way that a reviewer described as misleading and clandestine, Epic activated a feature in its app that was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intention of following the App Store guidelines. violating the same amount of money for each developer to protect customers, ”the company said in a statement.
“Their reckless behavior has made customers pioneers, and we look forward to making that clear to the European Commission,” he said.
Apple has taken small steps over the past few months to change their practices, including lower rates for some developers and given them a way to dispute its claims, which does not satisfy both of the company’s critics.
Fortnite will return to the iPhone in the Safari Mobile Browser sometime. Epic and Apple have been trading documents and making deposits in recent weeks ahead of a scheduled trial in May in the Epic lawsuit last year.
The Commission, which is investigating Apple’s mobile payment system Apple Pay and the App Store, confirmed receipt of the complaint.
“We will assess it on the basis of our standard procedures,” a Commission spokesman said.
Epic Games also complained to the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Australian Watchdog.
Major companies such as Microsoft Corp, Spotify and Match Group Inc have also criticized Apple’s App Store fees and rules.
Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Additional reporting by Stephen Nellis and Paresh Dave in San Francisco; Edited by Barbara Lewis, Edmund Blair and David Goodman