Epic Games Might Fail to Force Apple to Unblock Fortnite Anytime Soon

The outcome of the lawsuit might come as late as July 2021

The fight between Epic Games and Apple that started over App Store payments is getting uglier day by day. Epic Games’ plan to force Apple to unblock Fortnite seems to be failing in the court, and the outcome of the lawsuit might come as late as July 2021. Here is what you need to know about this epic battle.

 

On Tuesday morning (Australian time), Apple and Epic Games’ lawyers appeared for a hearing in California. At the hearing, Epic Games said that Apple is using monopolistic power to act in an anti-competitive manner as it extracts 30% fee and doesn’t allow the users to install applications like Fortnite, which is an abuse of its power. Epic Games also said that the 30% fee is too high, and the company wants to use its own payment method and an App Store.

 

The lawyers of Epic Games also stated that the decision to remove Fortnite from the App Store by Apple caused irreparable harm to the company.

The lawyers of Apple countered by saying that Epic Games also caused harm by violating App Store rules. They also argued that the 30 per cent fee is standard across the industry. They also said that the decision to allow downloads only via App Store is a security feature that motivates people to play games like Fortnite safely.

Justice Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers was not overly impressed by the arguments or strategy of Epic Games. She said that the entire matter has made the company quite popular and boosted its reputation.

 

While closing the hearing, the judge recommended that the case should go to a jury trial in 2021. However, she might take a decision regarding unblocking Fortnite on the App Store in the next few days. Talking about her views regarding the trial, she said “I think this is going to be a fascinating trial, frankly. Because each of these experts makes a compelling argument.”

Apple did not respond to a request for comment while Epic Games declined a comment. The fans of the games like Fortnite have no choice but to wait and watch and hope that Epic Games and Apple solve this issue quickly.