More than three years later, where is the case between the video game giant Epic Games and another giant called Apple? Reminder of the situation.
Act 1, Apple excludes Fortnite from its App Store££££
Thursday August 13, 2020, Apple deletes the game Fortnite from its App Store, the publisher Epic Games having circumvented the rules of the online store Apple to allow players to purchase in-app content without paying the 30% normally due to the creator of the iPhone. Shortly after, the game was also removed from Google Play for similar reasons.
Prologue, provocation signed Epic Games££££
Epic's provocation was anything but improvised since shortly after, the publisher broadcast a short video in its Fortnite game called Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite (see . video below), parody of the Apple advertisement released in 1984 which was inspired by the anti-totalitarian novel 1984 by George Orwell. The aim of the maneuver at the time: to attack the IT monopoly then held by IBM. The big bad of 2020 would therefore be embodied by the white knight of yesterday, and Epic positioned itself as the revolutionary little people (a little people, however, valued at a few billion dollars on the stock market).
Act 2, Epic Games sues Apple££££
Epic then continued to unfold its plan, which had certainly been prepared for a long time, suing Apple and citing the Sherman Act, the American anti-monopoly laws. In its complaint, Epic also had fun citing the work 1984 - again - as well as the famous Apple advertisement. A huge obstacle in the pond therefore, as well as a big communication blow.
Act 3, Epic Games loses the battle in the United States after 3 years of proceedings££££
Where are we now today after more than three years of proceedings? Well to summarize, it's a win for Apple. Indeed, the Epic firm saw its final appeal rejected on January 16, 2024, and nothing is legally possible anymore. “The Supreme Court has rejected both parties' appeals in the Epic v. Apple anti-competitive case,” said Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games. The legal battle to open iOS to competing stores and payment methods is lost in the United States. A regrettable outcome for all developers."
Epilogue, Europe with its DMA takes over from Epic Games££££
Apple thus retains its "monopoly" in the United States, even if -ironically?-, this is about to be broken in Europe by the new legislation of the old continent (see our news The App Store loses its monopoly in Europe at the beginning of March...). Who knows if the European authorities have not followed the procedure on the other side of the Atlantic to refine the DMA (Digital Markets Act for new European legislation on digital markets)?
