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Apple legal filings indicate that Epic Games asked for special App Store deal, similar terms offered to larger developers

This is apparently where the kerfuffle between Apple and Epic Games began.

With less than a week away from Apple’s termination of Epic Games’ develop account, Apple has officially responded to Epic’s lawsuit with a court filing. Apple’s Phil Schiller has also stated that Epic asked for a special deal and revealed how Sweeney approached the situation by submitting three emails in the case.

Apple, in essence, is replying that Epic is guilty of anticompetitive practices.

Via three emails shared as part of its first court filing in the case, Apple offered evidence as to how Epic was asking for special treatment and is using anticompetitive practices:

On June 30, 2020, Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeney wrote my colleagues and me an email asking for a ‘side letter’ from Apple that would create a special deal for only Epic that would fundamentally change the way in which Epic offers apps on Apple’s iOS platform,” former Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller wrote in a declaration. Schiller, whose title is now Fellow, runs Apple’s App Store.

Schiller went on to state “that Sweeney emailed him the morning that Fortnite changed its payment mechanism saying that it ‘will no longer adhere to Apple’s payment processing restrictions.’”

Epic has stated that the warning as to possible termination of its App Store developer account was retaliation for protesting Apple’s App Store policies and filed another lawsuit asking the Northern District California court to prevent Apple from the termination.

In the last two weeks, Apple has stated that Fortnite can return to the App Store and Epic can save its developer account from deletion by submitting an updated version of the popular game without the direct payment option that got it banned. Apple reiterated that and summed up how it sees the situation as part of its new filing.

Per Apple’s email:

In the wake of its own voluntary actions, Epic now seeks emergency relief. But the “emergency” is entirely of Epic’s own making. Epic’s agreements with Apple expressly spell out that if an app developer violates the rules of the App Store or the license for development tools—both of which apply and are enforced equally to all developers large and small—Apple will stop working with that developer. Developers who work to deceive Apple, as Epic has done here, are terminated.

Epic’s Tim Sweeney has stated that “We hope that Apple will also make these options equally available to all iOS developers…” but the fact that it was asking for its own “side letter” to create its own app store certainly won’t help Epic’s case.

In spite of Epic’s case looking weaker than the company might like, Apple has cut a special deal with Amazon that offers more favorable terms than are applied to other developers. That along with other examples of exceptions for other large companies like Microsoft make it difficult for Apple to claim it treats all developers equally.

You can read Apple’s full court filing in the Epic case, which is linked below.

Via 9to5Mac, CNBC, and Court Listener