EU regulators investigate Apple’s latest Epic Games removal

The European Union has intervened in the latest conflict between Apple and Epic Games. Bloomberg Reports say regulators will question Apple’s choice to ban Epic developer accounts. The creator of Fortress Heroes claims the action prevents it from launching on the Epic Games Store in Europe.

This upgrade starts with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney shared a post on X January claimed Apple was trying to prevent compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and said much of its latest policy announcement was “hot garbage.” Apple’s stipulations include meeting the company’s notarization requirements, paying a core technology fee after the millionth download (about 54 cents per install per year), and showing a $1.1 million credit that can be used to resolve financial disputes.Highest

A month after Sweeney’s release, Apple sent a letter saying, “Please tell us in simple, no-holds-barred terms why we should trust Epic this time.” Sweeney responded that the company was “in the spirit of Act in good faith and will comply with the rules.”

Apple seems to distrust Epic and does not allow it to have a developer account. “Epic has materially breached its contractual obligations to Apple, resulting in a court ruling that Apple has the right to terminate “any or all of Epic Games’ wholly-owned subsidiaries, affiliates, and/or other entities under the control of Epic Games at any time. In Apple’s sole discretion. WHEREAS Epic Based on past and current conduct, Apple has chosen to exercise this right,” the company said in a statement.

Sweeney’s reaction was visual, to say the least, saying: “It was medieval feudal lords hanging the skulls of their former enemies on their castle walls.” CNBC Report.

The disagreement is the latest in a nearly five-year run of problems between the two companies — you can throw darts at a boardroom rife with fights in the tech industry (and there are a lot of fights in the tech industry) and there’s still a good chance of hitting the Epic Games-Apple standoff . The friction between the two began in 2020, when a Fortnite update allowed players to purchase digital coins through a direct payment feature, bypassing Apple’s rules on the use of in-app purchases for iOS games (giving them 30% off commission). Epic sued Apple, and California’s Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the game developer. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case, and both Apple and Epic appealed the ruling (Epic claimed there was an “error of law” and that Apple violated federal antitrust laws).

The EU’s decision comes as the DMA finally comes into force. The new law stipulates that “gatekeepers” such as Apple, Microsoft and Meta cannot favor their own systems, nor can they prohibit third-party developers from interoperating with them. If found to be in violation of the DMA, Apple could be forced to pay 10% of its annual global revenue, or 20% for repeated violations. Apple recently received its first fine from the European Union, a fine of 1.8 billion euros ($1.96 billion) for restricting rival music streaming apps.

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