- In court documents, it appears that Apple is trying to sue Valve in its battle with Epic Games.
- Valve has refused to disclose certain information about its revenue and the games it offers.
- Valve claims Apple is asking for too much information as it is not a mobile platform.
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Apple’s battle with Epic Games is apparently dragging other video game companies into its net.
In a joint court letter found by Ars Technica on Thursday, it appears that Apple Valve, the company behind the hugely popular online games store Steam, is trying to sue for information.
Apple has been embroiled in a legal battle with Epic Games since August, the studio behind the hugely popular “Fortnite”. The battle revolves around Epic Games’ refusal to comply with Apple’s App Store rules on in-app payments in its iOS version of “Fortnite”.
Apple requires app developers to use their own payment system, which charges an automatic 30% tax on in-app purchases. Epic Games claims to be competitive, and decided in August to implement its own payment system, after which Apple kicked off ‘Fortnite’ from the App Store.
Epic Games has since sued Apple and the two companies have since sued – with Apple CEO Tim Cook making a seven-hour deposit before the case goes to court in May. Epic Games sustained the pressure and filed an antitrust complaint with the EU this week.
Valve is not directly involved in the legal battle between the two companies. Apple said it is asking for documents showing Valve’s annual sales and revenue, as well as information about each app on Steam, including its pricing, to gain an understanding of the market in which Epic Games operates.
Apple complains in its letter that Valve resisted some of its requests for information, and that, after handing over information, it was strongly redirected.
Valve claims Apple is asking for too much information, as Valve is not a party involved in its battle with Epic Games and that it is not a mobile platform. More generally, Valve also claims that the information it can provide is largely irrelevant to the battle between Apple and Epic Games because it is a distributor of computer games.
“Valve does not manufacture or sell phones, tablets or video games for mobile devices, or otherwise compete in the mobile market,” the letter reads. It added that Apple’s requests would place an ‘extraordinary burden’ on Valve to gather all the information Apple wants.
“The extensive and highly confidential information that Apple requires about a subset of the computer games available on Steam does not show the size or parameters of the relevant market, and it will be very difficult to work with,” Valve said in said his letter.
Apple claims that Valve should be required to provide the information because Samsung complied with similar requests. Valve’s counter-argument is that Samsung is a public company, which is why it’s used to keeping records of the kind of information that can be produced faster and faster.
“Somehow a computer game maker that does not compete in the mobile market or sell ‘apps’ is portrayed in a dispute over mobile applications as a key figure. It is not,” Valve said.