2024-03-06 21:19:00
The makers of the online game “Fortnite” have suffered a setback in their plans to return to the iPhone in the EU.
Apple blocked the designated developer account. The company emphasized on Wednesday that following earlier rule violations by the developer Epic Games, its right to throw them off the platform had been confirmed in court.
With the DMA (Digital Markets Act) coming into effect, Apple in the EU must for the first time allow applications from sources other than the in-house App Store to be downloaded on the iPhone. Epic wants to use this to bring back “Fortnite,” which has been banned from the App Store since August 2020 following violating the rules, at least in the European Union.
Epic made the new controversy public in a blog post on Wednesday. Accordingly, on March 2nd, Apple blocked a Swedish developer account from Epic Games that had been set up a few weeks earlier. The lawyers’ letter, also published, states that Epic “demonstrably cannot be trusted.”
The trigger for the long dispute was an attempt by Epic to use a trick to avoid the 30 percent levy on the purchase price that Apple withholds from transactions in its App Store. A version of the application with hidden software code was passed on to the company’s app reviewers, which allowed users to buy virtual items even through Apple. Apple kicked “Fortnite” from the App Store because of the rule violation. Epic, on the other hand, went to court in the USA, but lost in all instances.
Epic described the banning of the Swedish developer account as retaliation for company boss Tim Sweeney’s sharp criticism of Apple’s implementation of the DMA requirements. He had described the planned Apple rules for other app marketplaces as “garbage” and accused the company, among other things, of wanting to slow down competition. In the new conditions, Apple is introducing, among other things, a fee of 50 cents for each additional initial installation following one million downloads of an app in a twelve-month period. The developers can also stay in the old model and only distribute their apps via Apple’s App Store. The group calls app installations from other sources a security risk.
Apple shares closed 0.59 percent lower at $169.12 on the NASDAQ.
Image source: Marek Szandurski / Shutterstock.com,istock/Nikada,Anton_Ivanov / Shutterstock.com,Bocman1973 / Shutterstock.com
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