A US Judge has ordered Apple to remove its restrictions around alternative payment methods, prompting Epic Games to offer dropping its longtime litigation and bring Fortnite back to iOS devices.
On Wednesday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple to stop forcing a 27% commission on purchases made for iOS games and apps through web links, which developers had been using to avoid its store payment charges.
She also ordered Apple to stop prompting messages dissuading users from using the web link purchases, and ordered Apple to pay Epic Games‘ attorney fees over the issue.
More significantly, the judge stated that Apple had violated a 2021 injunction and that VP Alex Roman had “outright lied under oath”. The company could now face criminal contempt charges.
Following the ruling, Fortnite maker Epic claimed a victory. It said that if Apple agreed to apply the ruling globally, it would drop all ongoing and future litigation, including its fight to bring its own store to iOS, and bring Fortnite back to the platform as soon as next week.
In a press briefing after the news, transcribed by The Game Business, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said: “We were one of Apple’s best partners for more than a decade, from the point we released Infinity Blade for iOS and did amazing Unreal Engine support, right up until we started fighting them in 2020. A good decade of awesome partnership. We hope with now the law being classified, and Apple’s legal obligations under these consumer protection laws being clear, and now with Apple being forced by the court to adhere to them, that hopefully we can put our dispute to rest.
“I’ve been fighting Apple for a long time. But I’m an iPhone customer. This is an awesome device. I love having it. I don’t love the policies that Apple has made with respect to stores, but there’s a lot of respect of Epic towards Apple’s quality of product and focus. I hold out hope that there’s a way for Apple to get back on the right side of history here. I think this is a great time for Apple to consider doing that.”
