{"id":117069,"date":"2020-08-21T20:48:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T20:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/view\/news\/368692"},"modified":"2020-08-21T20:48:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T20:48:00","slug":"apple-on-epics-retaliation-claims-the-emergency-is-entirely-of-epica-%c2%99s-own-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/08\/21\/apple-on-epics-retaliation-claims-the-emergency-is-entirely-of-epica-%c2%99s-own-making\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple on Epic’s retaliation claims: ‘The emergency is entirely of Epic\u00e2€ \u0099s own making’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple has responded to Epic\u2019s injunction from earlier this week, arguing that Epic\u2019s claim that Apple is unjustly retaliating against Epic is pure fabrication.<\/p>\n

In a filing shared online today<\/a> (via The Verge<\/a>), the iPhone maker accuses Epic Games of manufacturing an emergency by knowingly violating Apple\u2019s App Store rules then crying wolf when Apple took the standard response of revoking Epic\u2019s developer account for Apple products.<\/p>\n

On top of that, Apple now argues that it has offered to reverse its action against Epic if the company agrees to reverse the update that added that unsanctioned payment method into Fortnite<\/em> to begin with.<\/p>\n

\u201cEpic would be free to pursue its primary lawsuit,\u201d reads Apple\u2019s response. \u201cBut Epic does not want to remedy the harm that it contends requires immediate relief because it has a different goal in mind: it wants the Court to allow it free ride on Apple\u2019s innovation, intellectual property, and user trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is all the very very latest in an increasingly complicated back and forth between Apple and Epic, so for the full picture it\u2019s best to read our past coverage on each incident. As a refresher: <\/p>\n

\n

Epic Games updated Fortnite to include a payment method that bypassed the usual platform fees taken out of in-app purchases. (Details here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Apple fired back that afternoon by pulling Fornite from the App Store, claiming the payment scheme and update violated its App Store Guidelines. (Details here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple arguing its App Store policies were unlawful and anti-competitive. (Details here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Apple informed Epic that its access to developer tools would end on August 28, jeopardizing Epic\u2019s ability to run and maintain Unreal Engine on Apple platforms and for MacOS and iOS development. (Details here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Epic responded, asking the court for an injunction to protect it from what it says is retaliation from Apple: \u201cNot content simply to remove Fortnite from the App Store, Apple is attacking Epic\u2019s entire business in unrelated areas.\u201d (Details here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Earlier today, Epic also announced an in-game Fortnite tournament themed around its grievances with Apple, and encouraged its userbase to voice their complaints to Apple via social media. (Details here<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In today\u2019s update, Apple has now responded to Epic\u2019s retaliation allegation, saying that the injunction Epic is asking for is against public interest while further countering Epic\u2019s arguments that Epic has suffered \u201cirreparable harm\u201d and that Epic has a high likelihood to succeed in its anti-competitive lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the wake of its own voluntary actions, Epic now seeks emergency relief. But the \u2018emergency\u2019 is entirely of Epic\u2019s own making,\u201d reads Apple\u2019s counter.<\/p>\n

\u201cEpic\u2019s agreements with Apple expressly spell out that if an app developer violates the rules of the App Store or the license for development tools–both of which apply and are enforced equally to all developers large and small–Apple will stop working with that developer. Developers who work to deceive Apple, as Epic has done here, are terminated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deception, Apple argues, lies at least partially in the way Epic went about adding another payment method to Fortnite<\/em>. That update was rolled out as a hotfix according to the filing, and as such didn\u2019t go through the usual update channels where Apple would\u2019ve spotted and flagged the App Store Guideline-violating inclusion. It argues that Epic knew \u201cfull well what will happen\u201d, an argument that\u2019s not hard to believe considering how quickly Epic filed a lawsuit once Fortnite<\/em> was pulled from the App Store. Apple also suggests that Epic has \u201cknowing and purposefully created the harm\u201d at the core of its request for an injunction. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the injury Epic claims to itself, game players, and developers could have been avoided if Epic filed its lawsuit without breaching its agreements,\u201d argues Apple.<\/p>\n

Part of the argument used by Epic to pitch its injunction to protect it from the alleged retaliation is based on the company\u2019s belief that it is \u201clikely to succeed on the merits of its antitrust claim\u201d given antitrust rules outlined in Section 1 of the commerce-regulating law The Sherman Act. <\/p>\n

Apple voices disagreement in its own rebuttal, citing a court case from last week on similar tech markets that highlighted the importance of \u201celaborate inquiry as to the precise harm they have caused\u201d before declaring a novel business practice unreasonable or illegal. <\/p>\n

Following that, Apple notes that Epic itself pointed out in a blog post this morning<\/a> that there are other platforms on which players can play Fortnite<\/em> if it remains blocked on iOS, and adds out that Epic hasn\u2019t addressed the fact that the same logic behind its accusations that Apple is anti-competitive could be applied to Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo video game platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of factual, economic, and legal support is unsurprising because Epic\u2019s antitrust theories, like its orchestrated campaign, are a transparent veneer for its effort to co-opt for itself the benefits of the App Store without paying or complying with important requirements that are critical to protect user safety, security, and privacy,\u201d writes Apple.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apple has responded to Epic\u2019s injunction from earlier this week, arguing that Epic\u2019s claim that Apple is unjustly retaliating against Epic is pure fabrication. In a filing shared online today (via The Verge), the iPhone maker accuses Epic Games of manufacturing an emergency by knowingly violating Apple\u2019s App Store rules then crying wolf when Apple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}