A federal judge has ruled that Apple may continue its App Store ban on the popular video game Fortnite, published by Epic Games.
The ruling, which allows Apple to retain its ban on Fortnite from the App Store, is for a landmark antitrust lawsuit filed by the game publisher Epic Games. The case was filed by Epic in August after Apple decided to remove the game from its platform.
This means that Fortnite players using iPhones, iPads and other Apple devices will be unable to play the game's latest content or download app updates.
The antitrust lawsuit
Epic Games filed a legal complaint in a California court minutes after Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store.
The ban was imposed following a game update that allowed players to purchase in-game currency at a lower rate if they bought directly from Epic, effectively bypassing Apple.
Using the App Store, Apple takes a standard 30% cut of sales from its compulsory payment system. Apple said Epic had taken the "unfortunate step of violating the App Store guidelines".
In its legal complaint, Epic Games said: "Apple has become what it once railed against: the behemoth seeking to control markets, block competition, and stifle innovation."
The game developer alleged Apple of effectively running a monopoly in both deciding what apps can appear on iPhones and demanding that its own payment system, with the relatively high 30% cut, be used.
Several days later, the game developer filed another injunction against Apple after the latter threatened to remove the video game creator from its developer program on August 28.
Epic Games claims that it will be "irreparably harmed" by being completely removed from Apple’s developer program.
Its removal from the developer program means that its Unreal Engine, a popular graphics tool widely used by third-party developers of other games, films and virtual reality, will also be included in the ban, forcing the other developers to find an alternative tool.
In an earlier ruling, the court determined that while Apple may opt to retain its ban on Epic Games’ Fortnite, it cannot remove the video game company’s developer accounts or compromise its Unreal Engine graphics tool, which is widely used by third-party game developers.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Epic had not proven that Apple’s decision so far had caused the "irreparable harm" it claimed in its legal papers. However, she also wrote in her ruling that Apple had "chosen to act severely" by threatening to block the Unreal Engine, which is widely used by others.
Latest court decision
In her order, Gonzalez Rogers wrote that while Apple may continue its ban on the game, it must not punish Unreal Engine or Epic's affiliates. She argued that other users' reliance on Epic's Unreal Engine meant that removing it entirely would "unnecessarily impact" them.
She added: "Epic Games and Apple are at liberty to litigate this action for the future of the digital frontier, but their dispute should not create havoc to bystanders."
"This matter presents questions at the frontier edges of antitrust law in the United States," Gonzalez Rogers mentioned. However, she also argued that too many unknowns remain" to determine whether Epic may succeed with its antitrust claims.
