No Fortnite, for now.
CNET
Apple’s argument with Epic Games, the company behind the hugely popular Fortnite battle game, goes back to June, the tech giant said in a Friday filing. And it started with Epic asking for a deal to offer a competing app store and payment system on iPhones, separate from Apple.
On June 30, Apple said it received an email from Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeney, asking for a “side letter” that would create a special deal for Epic, allowing the company to break App Store guidelines other companies can’t. Among them, Apple doesn’t allow developers to create separate app stores, nor does it allow companies to offer alternative payment processing in their apps.
“Sweeney expressly acknowledged that his proposed changes would be in direct breach of multiple terms of the agreements between Epic and Apple. Mr. Sweeney acknowledged that Epic could not implement its proposal unless the agreements between Epic and Apple were modified,” Phil Schiller, an Apple Fellow and former head of Worldwide Marketing, said in a statement filed with the court.
“Apple has never allowed this,” Apple said in its filing. “We strongly believe these rules are vital to the health of the Apple platform and carry enormous benefits for both consumers and developers.”
What followed, after more emails back and forth between the two companies, was an early morning email from Sweeney to Apple on Aug. 13. In it, he said Epic would break the App Store rules.
The back and forth offers a look into the discussions between the two companies before Epic activated code in its Fortnite app that allows players to use its payment processing instead of Apple’s. The iPhone maker responded, booting Fortnite from its App Store, to which Epic sued.
This is a developing story…