Apple Says Epic Games ‘Wants Us to Be Android, But We Don’t Want to Be’

The highly-anticipated Epic Games vs. Apple trial began today in a federal court in Oakland, California, with lawyers for both companies delivering opening remarks before District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
Legal Representatives for Epic Games attempted to paint the App Store as monopolistic and anti-competitive, noting that designers are required to use Apples in-app purchase system, and therefore pay Apple a 30% commission on sales. (The rate drops to 15% for subscriptions after the very first year and for qualifying developers who sign up for Apples brand-new Small Business Program and make less than $1 million per calendar year in net earnings.).
Epic Games explained the App Store as a “walled garden” and provided emails from former and present Apple executives like Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi, Eddy Cue, and Scott Forstall in an attempt to show this claim.
Legendary Games wants Apple to be forced to enable third-party app stores on iOS and to let developers offer direct payment systems, however Apple argued that a single, highly-curated App Store is necessary to safeguard the security, personal privacy, reliability, and quality that clients have concerned anticipate from the business.
” Epic desires us to be Android, but we do not desire to be,” said Apple legal representative Karen Dunn, referring to the ability to sideload apps beyond the Google Play store on Android devices. “Our consumers dont want that either,” she included.
Legendary Games is the creator of popular battle royale game Fortnite, which Apple removed from the App Store in August 2020, soon after Epic Games slyly introduced a direct payment option in the app, in defiance of the App Store guidelines. Epic Games then submitted an orchestrated suit against Apple, implicating the business of anti-competitive behavior.
At the time, Apple said Epic Games “took the regrettable action of violating the App Store guidelines that are used similarly to every developer and developed to keep the shop safe for our users,” adding that it would “make every effort to work with Epic to solve these infractions so they can return Fortnite to the App Store.” Legendary Games has actually refused to cooperate, however, and Fortnite remains not available on the App Store.
Impressive Games CEO Tim Sweeney testified at the trial today, saying that by presenting the direct payment alternative, he desired consumers to see that Apple exercises “overall control” over iOS and software readily available on the platform.
The trial is anticipated to continue for an overall of 3 weeks, with Apples CEO Tim Cook and other executives anticipated to affirm.