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âBig win for everyone who was rooting for both companies to lose.â
- Jason Schreier, video game journalist
THE STORY
On Friday, California judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled on the Epic v. Apple lawsuit. The court concluded that while Apple doesnât have an illegal monopoly on the mobile app market, it still âis engaging in anti-competitive conduct under Californiaâs competition lawsâ by blocking alternative ways to make in-app payments.
However, the court also ruled that Epic breached its contract with Apple when it implemented its own payment system in the Fornite app. Epic now must pay Apple 30 percent of all revenue collected through the system â which is roughly $3.6 million.
WHY IT'S INTERESTING
When Epic entered the trial, it claimed it was fighting for the developer community above all. But now that the courtâs ruling forces Apple to allow developers more freedom, Tim Sweeney still sees this as a loss.
Because for his company, it really is a loss. The court ruled that it was not okay for Epic to bypass App Store rules and include its own in-app payment option â a decision that started the whole thing.
And now, even though judge Gonzalez Rogers wants Apple to allow similar moves in the future, Epic still canât do it. Because itâs off the App Store for good. Its developer account has been terminated because of a breach of contract and the court confirmed that Apple had the right to do that.
#FreeFortnite isnât happening after all.
Apple is calling the courtâs decision âa resounding victoryâ when in fact it lost, too, even despite the fact that the judge ruled in its favour on nine out of ten counts. Itâs now forced to implement the biggest change in App Store history â a change that could potentially lose the company billions of dollars in revenue.
If anyone won here at all, itâs the developers. They will now potentially be able to work their way around Appleâs 30 percent commission. That is, until Tim Cook & co. find some other way to keep that money in their pockets.
DIG DEEPER
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