Epic Games Win Restraining Order in Battle Against Apple

The feud between Epic Games and Apple has been a major talking point over recent weeks. However, developers Epic have landed the latest blow in the battle, with a judge having granted them a temporary restraining order. As a result, Apple are now no longer able to block Epic Games, including Fortnite, from their developer program, an action which they had taken upon Epic introducing a 30% in-app purchase commission.

While the judge in California did claim that Epic had yet to demonstrate antitrust, Yvonne Gonzales Rogers did state the “serious questions do exist”. The latest decision is believed to have been made in an attempt to protect developers using Epic’s technology, such as Unreal Engine. While the ruling undoubtedly went down well with Epic, it will also have been welcomed by Microsoft, who unsurprisingly showed their support for them just this week.

Was it All Good News for Epic?

It was not all good news for Epic however, with the court having ruled that Fortnite will remain banned from the App Store, with any potential reversal coming later on in the legal proceedings. September 28 has been pencilled in as a date to discuss this issue further. While judge Rogers sided with Epic in the fact that they had demonstrated irreparable harm surrounding Apple’s move to block its developer tools, the fact that this is dealt with by Epic Games International, a subsidiary organisation, breaches have not been made due to them holding their own separate developer program agreements with Apple.

Overall, the court ruled that there had been potentially serious damage caused to the gaming industry as a whole, along with Unreal Engine. Upon making her final decision, Judge Rogers stated that: “Epic Games and Apple are at liberty to litigate against each other, but their dispute should not create havoc to bystanders.”

Epic argued that they should be able to take advantage of Apple’s platform without incurring any fees, by offering a direct payment option to Fortnite players instead. Specifically on this point, Rogers claimed that: “While the Court anticipates experts will opine that Apple’s 30% take is anti-competitive, the Court doubts that an expert would suggest a 0% alternative. Not even Epic Games gives away its products for free.”

What Next for Epic Games?

This is not an isolated incident for Epic Games, who are also in a similar battle with Google, while Rogers has previously ruled in favour of Apple in a previous legal dispute. With their most recent court hearing ending with the Judge remarking that the current situation is “of their own making”, with Epic potentially simply deactivating the hotfix that began direct Fortnite payments, it could well be that this is as good as it gets for the developers.