Epic wins Fortnite App Store lawsuit against Apple

Today, a U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of Epic Games in its lawsuit against Apple. As a result, Apple can no longer mandate that in-app purchases on its own devices go through the App Store. Apple previously collected 30% of revenue from purchases made in Epic Games’ Fortnite.

In 2020, Apple removed Fortnite from the iOS store after Epic offered its users a discount on V-Bucks if they purchased them outside of the App Store. Epic made the move in response to Apple collecting 30% of the profits generated by V-Buck purchases on Apple devices. The Fortnite developer launched a public campaign using the hashtag #FreeFortnite which called Apple’s practice unreasonable. This was quickly followed by the filing of a lawsuit by Epic against Apple in August 2020.

Below is the relevant section of the injunction as decided by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers:

The Court, having considered the evidence presented to the Tribunal in this case and in accordance with its findings of fact and law, ORDERS that:

1. Apple Inc. and its officers, agents, attendants, employees, and any person actively participating in or participating in a concert (“Apple”) are hereby prohibited and continually directed to prohibit developers (i) to include in their applications and their buttons metadata, external links or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to in-app purchases and (ii) communication with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration in the application.

What does it mean? In 2022, Apple will no longer be able to require online purchases made in games or apps on Apple devices to go through its own App Store. It should allow developers to redirect users to their own marketplaces for online purchases. The injunction will take effect on December 9 unless she is appointed to a higher court, according to Edge.

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, tweeted a response to the court ruling, saying:

The move has potentially significant implications for other online storefronts like Google, which Epic also filed a lawsuit against in July this year. With Epic Games now being allowed to redirect users playing on Apple devices to its own sites for online purchases through this lawsuit, there could be a precedent for developers to do so on other storefronts as well.

Kotaku has contacted Epic and Apple for comment. Epic directed us to Tim Sweeney’s tweet, above. Apple has not responded at press time.