When Epic Games launched an Epic Games Store on iOS last year, the upstart digital video game company hoped to disrupt Apple’s App Store. However, Epic Games found out the hard way that the world’s most valuable company wasn’t going to take this challenge lightly. In fact, Apple struck back almost immediately, removing Epic Games’ popular battle royale title Fortnite from its App Store.
After months of legal wrangling, the issue was brought to the Supreme Court in an appeals process. But, on Monday, the Supreme Court flatly denied the case brought by Epic Games, refusing to hear the appeal. As a result, Apple’s App Store rules and policies remain the same.
This case is just the latest battle in the ongoing war between Epic Games and Apple. This comes on the heels of Epic Games suing Apple in August 2020, accusing the tech behemoth of anticompetitive practices.
In its legal complaint, Epic Games argues that Apple unfairly dominates the mobile app market and has used its position to forcibly extract more money from developers. Specifically, Epic Games is accusing Apple of charging an App Store commission fee of 30%–an amount that Epic Games claims is unfairly high–and restricting developers from selling apps and services outside the iOS ecosystem.
While the Supreme Court’s decision is a major setback for Epic Games, the legal battle isn’t over. On Tuesday, Epic Games filed a new lawsuit against Apple, alleging that Apple’s decision to cut Fortnite from the App Store is in violation of antitrust laws. It remains to be seen if Epic Games will succeed in this new suit, but the company will persist in its legal fight against Apple.
In any case, it seems clear that the App Store itself is not going to change any time soon. Apple has long been a steadfast defender of its platform, and this case shows that Apple is unwilling to budge on the issue. Epic Games might eventually gain some ground from its legal fight against Apple, but, for now, consumers, developers, and Apple can expect the App Store to remain as it is.
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