After the DMA forced Apple to open up its app ecosystem in the EU, Epic Games announced that it would bring its own games store to iOS to Europe and bring Fortnite back to the platform there. Although the company still doesn’t agree with Apple’s new terms for developers, it still wanted to keep its promise to offer an alternative to the App Store for game developers, like the Markets Act digital now requires Apple to authorize it.
Now the company says its plans are on hold because Apple has terminated the developer account it planned to use to publish its iOS games store. Epic announced on February 16 that its developer account for this project, Epic Games Sweden AB, had been approved by Apple. Now the company has published a blog post stating that Apple has terminated this developer account.
Why did Apple terminate the account? Epic says this is largely due to the company’s criticism of Apple’s policies:
Apple said that one of the reasons they terminated our developer account just weeks after approving it was because we publicly criticized their proposed DMA compliance plan. Apple cited this message X from this thread written by Tim Sweeney. Apple is retaliating against Epic for exposing Apple’s unfair and illegal practices, just as they have repeatedly done to other developers.
Apple also claims that Epic poses a threat to its ecosystem, but that is a completely unwarranted excuse to terminate one of our accounts. Apple has been a long-time public supporter of Unreal Engine. We have also had an ongoing contractual relationship with Apple since 2010 for Epic games, Unreal Engine and our other creation tools.
Epic games
The blog post goes on to show correspondence between Epic Games and Apple over its attempt to publish its game store, comply with Apple’s new terms, and obtain one of Apple’s DMA consultation slots to discuss rules and compliance with Apple (for which it was unsuccessful).
The legal and regulatory battle over iPhone app distribution and payments, in which Epic Games plays a central role, is far from over. We expect further developments, both within the EU and in other markets, in the coming weeks and months.
