San Francisco: Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, has termed Apple changes to its App Store in the European Union ahead of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) as “hot garbage”.
His company, however, announced that their popular Fortnite game will return to iOS in Europe this year. In a lengthy post on X, Sweeney called the Apple update “a devious new instance of malicious compliance”.
“They are forcing developers to choose between App Store exclusivity and the store terms, which will be illegal under DMA, or accept a new also-illegal anticompetitive scheme rife with new Junk Fees on downloads and new Apple taxes on payments they don’t process,” Sweeney alleged.
Apple could block Epic from launching the Epic Games Store and distributing Fortnite through it, for example, or block Microsoft, Valve, Good Old Games, or new entrants.
“Epic has always supported the notion of Apple notarisation and malware scanning for apps, but we strongly reject Apple’s twisting this process to undermine competition and continue imposing Apple taxes on transactions they’re not involved in,” said the Epic Games CEO.
“There’s a lot more hot garbage in Apple’s announcement,” he added.
Meanwhile, his gaming company posted on X that Fortnite will return to iOS in Europe later this year, distributed by the upcoming Epic Games Store for iOS.
“Stay tuned for details as we figure out the regulatory timeline. We’ll continue to argue to the courts and regulators that Apple is breaking the law,” said the company.
Fortnite hasn’t been available on iOS for more than three years, after Apple removed it from the App Store and banned Epic for sneaking in third-party in-app payments.
Last week, the US Supreme Court declined to hear the appeals filed by both Apple and Epic Games, following a judge’s ruling that Apple must allow developers to offer alternative methods to pay for apps and services other than through the App Store.
“The court battle to open iOS to competing stores and payments is lost in the United States. A sad outcome for all developers,” said Sweeney.
–IANS