Apple restored “Fortnite” maker Epic Games’ permissions to supply its own app store to iPhone customers in Europe on Friday — just in the future after European Union regulators suggested its brazen move to dam Epic could have violated a sweeping recent antitrust law.
Apple faced scrutiny under European Union’s Digital Markets Act — a law that took effect this week and placed restrictions on six “gatekeeper” Big Tech firms.
The law requires Apple to permit developers to run their very own app stores — something Epic sought to do until Apple terminated its account in response to CEO Tim Sweeney’s public criticism of its tough business tactics.
Epic Games — which has engaged in a years-long legal battle with Apple over its App Store policies — said it might move forward with its plans to supply Fortnite and its Epic Games Store.
“This sends a robust signal to developers that the European Commission will act swiftly to implement the Digital Markets Act and hold gatekeepers accountable,” Epic Games said in an announcement.
Elsewhere, Sweeney — who had previously referred to Apple’s proposed compliance plan with the law as “hot garbage” — lauded the corporate’s decision as “a giant win for European rule of law, for the European Commission, and for the liberty of developers worldwide to talk up.”
The abrupt change of heart got here in the future after the European Commission — the EU’s competition agency — said it had “requested further explanations on this from Apple under the DMA.”
EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager snarkilly said gamers will “find a way to play @FortniteGame once it would be back on iOS” alongside a winking-face emoji.
“Following conversations with Epic, they’ve committed to follow the principles, including our DMA policies,” Apple said in an announcement. “Consequently, Epic Sweden AB has been permitted to re-sign the developer agreement and accepted into the Apple Developer Program.”
Epic had initially described Apple’s move to terminate its developer account in Europe as a “serious violation” of the DMA.
The North Carolina-based video game giant published a letter from the pinnacle of Apple’s App Store, Phil Schiller, who slammed Epic for publicly bashing its tactics.
“Your colourful criticism of our DMA compliance plan, coupled with Epic’s past practice of intentionally violating contractual provisions with which it disagrees, strongly suggest that Epic Sweden doesn’t intend to follow the principles,” Schiller said in the letter.
Schiller asked Epic Games to offer “written assurance” that it’s acting in “good faith” and to elucidate “why we should always trust Epic this time.”
Meanwhile, Apple asserted in previous statements that it court rulings had affirmed it had the “sole discretion” to terminate deals with developers in the event that they were found to have violated the terms of their contract.
The spat marked the most recent twist in a long-running feud between the company giants that began in 2020, when Fortnite was banned from Apple’s App Store in the US after Epic tried to bypass its system for in-app purchases.
An ensuing lawsuit resulted in a split verdict that mostly favored Apple.
The European Commission has taken a hardline stance toward Apple on antitrust matters.
Earlier this month, it hit Apple with a large $2 billion high-quality after investigators found it had illegally restricted music app developers from promoting cheaper ways to subscribe to their streaming services outside the App Store