Apple Files A Countersuit Against Epic Over Breach Of Contract

Apple has filed a countersuit against Fortnite-creator Epic Games over violating its contract and avoiding paying millions in fees. The tech company asked court to award damages and prevent Epic from attempting anything like this again 

What To Know:

• Last month, Fortnite-maker Epic Games introduced its new payment system which skipped the 30% fee that Google and Apple collects. Following the launch, the popular battle royale game was removed from both App Store and Google Play Store. 
• The developer launched a PR campaign against Apple by releasing a parody video of Apple’s iconic 1984 ad and launching a new Fortnite tournament where users got the chance to win anti-Apple prizes, and filed an injunction in order to prevent Apple from removing Fortnite. 
• Epic Games said that Apple would terminate all of its developer accounts including Unreal Engine which is widely used by third party developers from around the world. 
• Major news publishers joined Epic Games in asking Apple to take lower commission and global tech giant Microsoft filed a statement to support Epic Games’ request to keep having access to Apple’s developer tools for Unreal Engine. 
• A federal judge decided that Apple won’t be required to bring Fortnite back to the App Store but ordered it not to shut down Epic’s Unreal Engine. 
• Shortly after, Apple officially terminated Epic Games’ App Store account for violating its guidelines and said that termination won’t affect Unreal Engine. 
• Then, Epic Games asked the court to stop ‘’Apple’s retaliation’’ and bring Fortnite back to the App Store. 

And now, Apple has filed a breach-of-contract countersuit against Epic Games saying that it violated its contract and avoiding paying millions of dollars. The company also asked the court to award damages and prohibit the developer from attempting anything like this again. 

‘’Although Epic portrays itself as a modern corporate Robin Hood, in reality it is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that simply wants to pay nothing for the tremendous value it derives from the App Store,” says Apple in its suit. (TechCrunch)

“While Epic and its CEO take issue with the terms on which Apple has since 2008 provided the App Store to all developers, this does not provide cover for Epic to breach binding contracts, dupe a long-time business partner, pocket commissions that rightfully belong to Apple, and then ask this Court to take a judicial sledgehammer to one of the 21st Century’s most innovative business platforms simply because it does not maximize Epic’s revenues.’’

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