Apple and Epic Games’ bitter falling out following last week’s debacle has seemingly reached new levels of ridiculous over the last 24 hours.
For those not familiar with the situation, the latter made a change to mobile versions of Fortnite last week that meant users could pay the developer directly for any premium currency purchased. The move knowingly circumvented Apple and Google’s terms of service specifying a flat 30% fee for any digital transactions on their respective platforms, resulting in the battle royale swiftly being removed from both iOS and Android.
Clearly expecting such an outcome, Epic almost immediately responded by mocking Apple’s decision and subsequently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the corporation, citing concerns about monopolistic intentions. According to an update posted by the former over on Twitter, Apple has now seen fit to retaliate by threatening to terminate every account tied to Epic, barring it from using iOS and Mac development tools in the process.
The comments read as follows:
Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store and has informed Epic that on Friday, August 28 Apple will terminate all our developer accounts and cut Epic off from iOS and Mac development tools. We are asking the court to stop this retaliation.
As mentioned in new legal filings, the ramifications of these actions could be potentially huge, as Apple following through on its ultimatum would result in iOS developers being prevented from using Unreal Engine. As widely-used software used in numerous video games, such an outcome could be potentially catastrophic for those affected, though it’s worth noting that this would only apply to iOS and Mac, not Windows PCs.
Regardless, it’s looking increasingly likely that the individuals most likely to be affected by this petty squabble will be independent devs caught in whatever legal bindings either side deems necessary to use against the other. Here’s to hoping this all blows over before the situation worsens.
from Gaming – We Got This Covered https://ift.tt/3iVXpnL
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