Apple Has Pulled Epic Games From App Store

While a judge may not settle the dispute between Apple and Epic Games for months, the computer giant pulled the Fortnite maker’s games from the App Store on Friday (Aug. 28), 9to5Mac reported.

Epic emailed its Fortnite players that the iOS and Mac versions of the game are blocked from receiving updates.

The move comes amid a pending lawsuit against Apple by Epic. The dispute began earlier this month when the Maryland-based game maker released a payment platform that was crafted to bypass the App Store’s payment system and its 30 percent commission.

In response, Apple said it would end Epic’s access to the App Store on Friday (Aug. 28) arguing that Epic violated Apple’s rules. Epic filed suit alleging that the tech giant’s practices are anticompetitive.

“Apple’s removal of Fortnite is yet another example of Apple flexing its enormous power in order to impose unreasonable restraints and unlawfully maintain its 100 percent monopoly over the iOS In-App Payment Processing Market,” Epic Games wrote in the legal filing.

In court documents, Apple argued that Epic wants special treatment and produced emails from Tim Sweeney, the game maker’s CEO, to prove it.

This week, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers for the Northern District of California issued a temporary split order and ruled that the global consumer electronics and computer software company can’t block the game maker from accessing the tools of Unreal Engine, a popular game engine developed by Epic that is used to build 3-D games on Apple platforms.

At the same time, the court denied the North Carolina game-maker’s motion to restore its Fortnite game to the App Store. 

“Epic Games and Apple are at liberty to litigate against each other, but their dispute should not create havoc to bystanders,” Rogers wrote in a ruling. “Apple has chosen to act severely, and by doing so, has impacted non-parties and a third-party developer ecosystem.”

A hearing is scheduled between the parties at the end of September.