After more than three years, and thanks to a refusal on the part of the US Supreme Court to hear Epic’s appeal, the legal battle between Epic Games and Apple has come to an end.
On August 13, 2020, Epic Games decided to implement direct payments for “Fortnite” in an attempt to circumvent Apple’s 30 percent App Store commission. Apple then pulled the game from the App Store and Epic Games, expressing surprise, launched what proved to have been a long-planned legal battle.
At this point, there are no further opportunities for appeal, and while Epic Games lost for most of the steps involved, they did score occasional victories against Apple’s legal department.
According to Reuters, the US Supreme Court decided on January 16, 2024, that it would decline to hear an antitrust challenge by Epic Games. The challenge was by way of an appeal against a lower court’s decision, but the Supreme Court also declined to hear Apple’s own appeal of that same decision.
Over the years in which the legal actions took place, Epic Games accused Apple of anti-steering practices, or how it prevents developers from informing users of alternative ways to buy their apps.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has previously claimed that his company’s disagreement with Apple was not about the 30% App Store commission.
Sweeney offered the following comment in March 2023:
“If we just build this thing in an open environment then companies can live on their merits. We very much like that because we have a history of winning on the merits when given the chance and we’re terribly frustrated at markets like iOS where you just can’t make an Epic Games Store for iOS because Apple says ‘You can’t compete with us’!”
Apple, in turn, repeatedly stated only that Epic Games chose to break the App Store agreements that it had signed, and that it would have preferred to have kept Epic as part of the Apple Developer program, complete with its apps on its App Store marketplace.
Following the Supreme Court’s final ruling, Sweeney took to Twitter/X to decry the decision — and to paint the anti-steering injunction as a victory for developers.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider, Reuters, and @TimSweeneyEpic