Apple has finally responded to Epic's lawsuit with claims that the gaming giant requested special treatment on multiple occasions. The company produced three emails from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, marking Apple's first legal response against Epic since their dispute spilled into courts. The claim that Epic sought a "special deal" was something Sweeney refuted earlier this month, saying they are "fighting for open platforms and policy changes equally benefiting all developers."
But Apple's filing on Friday disputes this point. "On June 30, 2020, Epic's CEO Tim Sweeney wrote my colleagues and me an email asking for a 'side letter' from Apple that would create a special deal for only Epic that would fundamentally change the way in which Epic offers apps on Apple's iOS platform," Phil Schiller, former Apple Senior Vice President and now Apple Fellow, said.
According to Apple, Sweeney asked to bypass Apple's in-app purchases and let their players pay the developer directly. They also supposedly requested to launch a third-party app store for iPhones.
When Fortnite's payment mechanism changed last week, Sweeney emailed him, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and other top Apple execs saying the company "will no longer adhere to Apple's payment processing restrictions." In the June 30 email titled "Consumer Choice & Competition" produced by Apple, Sweeney wrote, "Because of restrictions imposed by Apple, Epic is unable to provide consumers with certain features in our iOS apps."
It continued, "Apple would need to provide a side letter or alter its contracts and standards documents to remove such restrictions to allow Epic to provide a competing app store and competing payment processing option to iOS customers."
And it also mentioned that Epic wanted other developers to get the option: "... we hope that Apple will also make these options equally available to all iOS developers." And that's why Sweeney tweeted in response that Apple's characterization is misleading.
Epic requested a temporary restraining order to restore Fortnite on the Apple App Store. A hearing is scheduled for Monday, August 24, in the Northern District of California. Apple says it would restore the game and stop plans to disable Epic's developer account if they remove the payment mechanism the game developer introduced into Fortnite.
Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple and Google, accusing them of anti-competitive behaviour with how they control their app stores. The most significant sore spot is that Apple and Google take as much as 30% from developers on their app stores. Epic bypassed this by introducing a direct payment mechanism in Fortnite, which resulted in the popular game getting banned from the App Store and Play Store.
Source: CNBC + Digital Trends