‘Fortnite’ maker Epic asked Apple to release its own iPhone App Store

• In mid-August, the hugely popular game “Fortnite” received an update that allowed players to submit payment directly to Epic Games, rather than going through the app store payment systems on Apple and Android. .
• Apple and Google subsequently removed “Fortnite” from their digital storefronts, citing the update as a terms of service violation, and Epic sued the two companies.
• New documents show that IAt the end of June, the CEO of Epic asked Tim Cook to publish a “competing Epic Games Store application available through the iOS App Store”.
• The Epic Games Store has reportedly provided an alternative option to Apple’s App Store for iPhone and iPad users. More importantly, it wouldn’t allow Apple to take 30% of every sale, as it currently does.
• Apple declined through its lawyer, with a lengthy letter explaining why such an option “would undermine Apple’s carefully crafted privacy and security guarantees, and seriously degrade the consumer experience and jeopardize reputation. and the activity of Apple ”.
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A month and a half before “Fortnite” maker Epic Games declared war on Apple over its app store policies, the game developer pitched a bold idea to Apple: an alternative app store for users iPhone and iPad, operated by Epic Games.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney wrote on June 30 that the company wanted to offer “a competing Epic Games Store app available through the iOS App Store and through a direct install offering equal access to operating system features. underlying for installing and updating software as an iOS app. Store itself has, including the ability to install and update software as easily as the iOS App Store experience . “

The emails were revealed in a recent court filing by Apple. In short: Epic has requested to release an iOS version of its Epic Games Store app, a digital storefront operated by Epic, which already exists on Mac and PC. Sweeney also asked Apple for permission to add “competing payment processing options other than Apple payments”.

By offering these features, Epic has set up an “antitrust trap” for Apple, which has faced constant scrutiny of how its App Store operates. Tim Cook even faced questions from Congress on the matter during a congressional antitrust hearing earlier this summer.

The proposed features would make Apple’s iOS devices, “as open and competitive as personal computers,” Sweeney wrote in his June 30 email to Apple executives: CEO Tim Cook, then marketing manager Phil Schiller, vice president of software Craig Federighi, and Matt Fischer, vice president of the App Store.

Apple declined Epic’s offer in a July 10 letter from legal counsel, saying consumers expected this “each The application available through the App Store meets Apple’s rigorous standards for security, privacy and content. “Approval of a third-party store, like the one proposed by Epic, would harm ‘the health of the Apple ecosystem,” said Douglas Vetter, chief legal counsel at Apple. “Apple never did. allowed that. Not when we launched the App Store in 2008. Not now, ”he added.

Vetter’s response emphasized security, saying that “thanks to the rules and efforts of Apple, iOS and the App Store are widely recognized as providing the safest consumer technology on the planet.”

Denying Epic’s requests, Vetter wrote: “We understand that this could be in Epic’s financial best interests, but Apple firmly believes these rules are vital to the health of the Apple platform and involve huge benefits for consumers and developers. “

Sweeney responded on July 17, thanking Apple’s management team for their “quick and clear response,” but also said it was “a sad state of affairs that Apple’s senior executives would deliver the sincere request. from Epic to Apple’s legal team to respond with such a selfish and egotistical cape. “He added:” Only lawyers could claim that Apple is protecting consumers by denying choice of payments and stores owners of iOS devices. “

Sweeney signed: “Epic is in a state of substantial disagreement with Apple’s policy and practices, and we will continue to pursue this path, as we have done in the past to correct other injustices in our industry. . “

A month later, on August 13, Sweeney sent Apple’s management team an early morning email before Epic updated the hugely popular “Fortnite” app with a bypass feature. payment systems on Apple and Android app stores, typically bypassing Apple and Google’s 30% fee. collection.

“I am writing to let you know that Epic will no longer abide by Apple’s payment processing restrictions,” Sweeney wrote in the email, adding, “We choose to go this route in the firm belief that the history and the law are on our side. ”

The “Fortnite” update forced the fight between Epic and Apple to go public when Apple removed the app from its App Store. Google also removed the app, but Android users can still access the game through direct download. Epic has since taken legal action against Apple and Google.

Epic also requested a temporary restraining order to prevent Apple from “removing, removing, refusing to list or making unavailable the ‘Fortnite’ app, including any updates to it.” The order would bring the game back to the Apple App Store and allow players to get updates, including the upcoming season. The first hearing is set for Monday, August 24.

Read the full email exchange between Epic and Apple from June 30, 2020 here:

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