BY OWOEYE TOLUWANIMI JANET
Following an intensified spat between the creator of “Fortnite” and the tech behemoth, Apple (AAPL.O) said on Friday that it had authorized Epic Games’ games marketplace app for use on iPhones and iPads in Europe. Epic Games claimed that Apple was impeding its attempts to establish a games store on the devices. According to Apple, the most recent dispute is unrelated to the Fortnite app developed by the video game company, which has previously received approval, and instead concerns the Epic Sweden AB Marketplace.
Apple’s strict control over the iOS app ecosystem has drawn criticism from app developers and antitrust authorities.
Before Apple’s announcement, Epic said the iPhone maker had twice rejected documents the video-game publisher submitted to launch the Epic Games Store because the design of certain buttons and labels was similar to those used by its App Store.
“We are using the same “Install” and “In-app purchases” naming conventions that are used across popular app stores on multiple platforms, and are following standard conventions for buttons in iOS apps,” Epic said in a series of posts on X. “Apple’s rejection is arbitrary, obstructive, and in violation of the DMA (Digital Markets Act), and we’ve shared our concerns with the European Commission,” it said.
The European Commission declined to comment after launching an investigation last month into the procedures Apple had put in place to verify that apps and other app stores may be sideloaded.
The game company Epic and Apple have been engaged in a legal dispute since 2020. Epic claimed that Apple’s policy of collecting up to 30% commissions on in-app purchases made on its iPhone Operating System (iOS) devices was in violation of US antitrust laws.
Apple put up revisions to its App Store regulations early this year in order to abide by key DMA directives that were effective in March.
It provided an option to forego in-app purchases and permitted the use of other app stores on iPhones, but it also imposed a “core technology fee” that some developers felt was abusive.