“Arbitrary”: Epic Games Store reportedly fails Apple’s audit

The tug-of-war over Fortnite and the Epic Games Store for iOS is entering a new round: Apple has already rejected the Games Store twice during approval testing, so it cannot be brought to the iPhone, Epic Games announced on Friday. Apple is upset by the fact that the Games Store uses an install button and a label for “in-app purchases”, which is similar to the official App Store. Epic said it submitted the marketplace to Apple for review in early July.

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The gaming company argues that both app installs and in-app purchases are industry-standard terms that can be found in app stores on all platforms. These are terms that users ultimately understand and expect. Epic also follows “common conventions for buttons in iOS apps.”

Epic complains to EU regulators

Apple’s rejections from the marketplace are therefore “arbitrary and restrictive” and “in violation of the Digital Markets Act”, and Epic has therefore informed the EU Commission about the process. As announced, the Epic Games Store should continue to launch on iOS in the next few months. This will continue – Apple should not put any further obstacles in the way of the project.

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Epic Games and Apple have been fighting for several years over access to iPhone users and Apple’s commission on in-app purchases. Epic integrated its own in-app purchase interface into Fortnite overnight and offered its own in-game currency cheaper than Apple’s in-app purchase system – an App Store taboo. Apple therefore immediately removed the game from the App Store and cancelled Epic’s membership in the dev program. This means the gaming company is effectively banned from the platform.

Long-term dispute over Apple commission

Epic lost the US antitrust lawsuit against Apple on almost all counts, but the last word has not yet been spoken. In the EU, Epic Games wants to use the opening of iOS forced by the Digital Markets Act to bring its game store, including Fortnite, to the iPhone. So a Swedish Epic subsidiary applied for a new developer account from Apple in the spring, which was first approved, then withdrawn and finally approved – apparently under EU pressure.

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