In the dispute over Fortnite and the App Store, Apple has taken a hard stance against Epic in a new filing to the court. It is alleged that Epic is conducting the lawsuit against Apple as a PR campaign to keep their struggling online shooter Fortnite in the conversation throughout 2020. Furthermore, Epic is said to be acting unfairly.
The court dispute between Apple and Epic continues. While Epic stated that they want to take action against the monopolist Apple, who takes 30% of the developers’ earnings, Apple presents the case in a completely different light.
It is all about money for Epic. They do not want to pay for a service from which they have profited so much. Epic’s claims to the court that they suffered damages for which Apple should be liable are outright rejected.
Apple portrays Epic as an arsonist and kidnapper
This is the latest filing: Apple has now responded in a 37-page letter to the California District Court to Epic’s motion to be readmitted to the App Store. The filing is full of attacks against Epic (via courtlistener).
It states:
- “Epic has ignited a fire and poured gasoline on it. Now they are asking the court for emergency assistance to put it out. But Epic could end it at any time if they simply adhered to the contract under which they have conducted good business with Apple for years.”
- “Epic takes its own customers hostage to gain more leverage in a business dispute.”
- “Epic is a saboteur, not a martyr. They do not need nor are entitled to the extraordinary relief they are seeking from the court.”
Apple argues:
- They do not have a monopoly – Fortnite runs on many other platforms and earns more money there than on iPhones. On iPhones, Fortnite only makes 10% of the revenue. Clearly, that is the smallest piece of the pie.
- It is solely up to Epic to resolve the conflict. Apple would like to return to the conditions that existed before the dispute.
- Fortnite is generally in crisis: In July 2020, the game made 70% less than it did in October 2019 – apparently, the legal battle is now intended to serve as a marketing campaign.
Apple states verbatim:
“For reasons unrelated to Epic’s accusations against Apple, the popularity of Fortnite is declining. Since October 2019, interest has fallen by nearly 70% by July 2020. The lawsuit (and the headlines the dispute generates) now seems to be part of a marketing campaign to revive interest in Fortnite.”
From Apple’s legal filing
Is Fortnite really in crisis? Well, it is still a big game, but not as big and enormous as in 2018 and early 2019. Apple is stating something that is generally known.
Indeed, the decline in interest that Apple refers to aligns with the analyses we started on MeinMMO. Approximately since mid-2019, since the Fortnite World Championship ended, the big hype around Fortnite has died down.
In October 2019 was the “Black Hole” event, where interest in Fortnite rose again, but that was not a lasting condition.
In February 2020 we wrote on MeinMMO: Fortnite has lost its charm and referenced current Twitch numbers.
What is the court dispute about? The current new filing is part of a publicly contested dispute between Apple and Fortnite, which has been ongoing for several weeks:
- Fortnite ran well in Apple’s App Store for years, but was required, like everyone else, to give up 30% of its revenue.
- Epic no longer wanted this and circumvented the payment process by sneaking its own payment method into the program – this was clearly against the contract with Apple.
- Apple then removed Fortnite from the App Store.
- Epic criticized Apple harshly in a video clip and sued, claiming Apple must readmit them to the App Store.
- Apple counter-sued, alleging that Epic behaved unfairly and breached the contract.
The feud between Fortnite and Apple has been ongoing since mid-August. It began with an attack that Epic launched vigorously against Apple. They took their legendary commercial from 1984 and used it against the company with the ubiquitous apple.
Since then, things have escalated further, as Apple responds sharply:
This is behind Fortnite 1984, the attack on Apple and #FreeFortnite
