Finished for now in court, the “battle” between Apple and Epic is still continuing outside the courtroom. In the past few hours, in fact, the Cupertino company has said that it has closed the developer account of Epic Games Sweden, the last one that the US software house had at its disposal. The EU Commission has decided to investigate what happened.
“Epic’s serious breach of its contractual obligations to Apple has led the courts to rule that Apple has the right to terminate “any or all of Epic Games’ subsidiaries, affiliates, and/or other wholly-owned entities at any time and upon Apple’s decision.” exclusive discretion.” In light of Epic’s past and current behavior, Apple has chosen to exercise that right.”
In a letter sent to Epic Games, lawyers representing Apple said that the company, having proven to be “verifiably unreliable,” cannot guarantee that it will comply with all of the terms and conditions of the Apple Developer Program in the future.
In response to this communication, Epic issued a press release in which it said that Apple’s termination of the Swedish developer account is a “serious violation” of the Digital Markets Act and “demonstrates that Apple has no intention of allowing real competition on iOS devices.”
“By closing Epic’s developer account, Apple is eliminating one of the biggest potential competitors from the Apple App Store. They’re undermining our ability to be a viable competitor and they’re showing other developers what happens when you try to compete with Apple or criticize their unfair practices.”
Epic said it intended to use the Swedish account to launch an Epic Games Store on iOS in the EU, which would allow Fortnite to be brought back to the iPhone. Starting with iOS 17.4, in compliance with the rules imposed by the Digital Markets Act, Apple had to allow third-party developers in the EU to be able to create, albeit with considerable limitations, alternative app marketplaces for iPhone.
Epic believes that Apple has decided to suspend its Swedish developer account in part due to public criticism from its CEO, Tim Sweeney, of the compliance plans proposed by the Digital Markets Act.
In this regard, in fact, Epic also shared a letter received from Apple in which Phil Schiller, head of Apple’s App Store and events management, states that Sweeney’s “colorful criticism” of Apple’s plans, but also Epic’s history of “intentional violation of contractual provisions with which it does not agree,” strongly suggest that Epic would not intend to comply with the rules of the Apple Developer Program in the event of reinstatement.
In the lengthy press release, Epic also recalled ongoing collaborations with Apple since 2010 for its games, Unreal Engine, and other creation tools. Epic Citadel in 2010, Infinity Blade, contracts for Horizons Chase 2 and Wonderbox and, last but not least, experimental support for Apple Vision Pro in Unreal Engine 5.4.