Epic Games is Doing this to Stop Apple’s Apple Store Ban

Epic Games filed for a preliminary injunction last week that would put the company’s game back in the App Store and restore its developer account.

The company announced this past Friday that it has asked a court to stop what it saw as Apple Inc’s retaliation against the “Fortnite” creator after the iPhone maker terminated Epic Games’ account on its App Store.

In a filing made in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Apple was described as a “monopolist” that maintains its monopolies by “explicitly prohibiting any competitive entry.”
The filing additionally argued that Epic Games is “likely to suffer irreparable harm” in the absence of a preliminary injunction and that “the balance of harms tips sharply in Epic’s favor”.

It was last week that the iPhone maker had erminated Epic Games’ account on its App Store amid a legal battle over the iPhone maker’s in-app payment guidelines and accusations they constitute a monopoly.

Epic Games had implemented a feature to let iPhone users make in-app purchases directly, rather than using Apple’s in-app purchase system, which charges commissions of 30%.

The tech giant assured however that the move wouldn’t affect Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, a software tool relied on by hundreds of other app makers.

“This was a clear warning to any other developer that would dare challenge Apple’s monopolies: follow our rules or we will cut you off from a billion iOS consumers – challenge us and we will destroy your business,” Epic Games said in the filing.

Apple had said it would allow “Fortnite” back into the store if Epic removed the direct payment feature.

Epic refuses to do so and said such a move would “collude with Apple to maintain their monopoly over in-app payments on iOS.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.