Epic Games, the creator of the Fortnite video game, disclosed that Apple had terminated its developer account.
The Fortnite creator disclosed the development on its company blog seen by News.ng on Thursday.
This is the latest development in a contentious dispute between the two firms around app store fees levied by the iPhone manufacturer.
This according to experts is a retraction of Apple’s previous acceptance of the account last month, which Epic claimed would enable it to reintroduce Fortnite to iOS devices in the EU through the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a new law in the area.
However, Epic now claims that it has received a letter from Apple’s attorneys cancelling its Epic Games Sweden AB account.
Epic describes this as a “serious violation of the DMA” and that it shows that Apple does not intend to “allow true competition on iOS devices.”
Apple exec Phil Schiller in response said:
“In the past, Epic has entered into agreements with Apple and then broken them,” Schiller reminds the game maker in the letter dated Feb. 23, 2024.
“You also testified that Epic deliberately violated Apple’s rules, to make a point and for financial gain. More recently, you have described our DMA compliance as ‘hot garbage,’ a ‘horror show,’ and a ‘devious new instance of Malicious Compliance.’ And you have complained about what you called ‘Junk Fees’ and ‘Apple taxes.”
Since 2020, the two business entities have been involved in a legal dispute over allegations made by the gaming company that Apple’s practice of taking up to 30% of commissions from in-app purchases made on iPhones and other devices violated American antitrust laws.
“Dev account secured, let’s go!” the game developer said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, only weeks ago.
We earlier reported that Sweeney weighed in a post on his X account regarding the recent fine on Apple for engaging in anti-competitive behaviour.
