Epic Games has filed another lawsuit against Apple, this time seeking to prevent the tech giant from terminating its developer accounts and cutting off access to iOS and Mac development tools. The move comes after Apple removed Fortnite, a popular mobile game developed by Epic, from the App Store for violating its policies.
According to the filing, Epic claims that the removal of Fortnite, combined with the termination of its developer accounts, will result in "irreparable harm" to the company. Moreover, cutting off access to development tools will also affect Unreal Engine Epic, a software offered by Epic to third-party developers and used by Apple itself without violating any policy.
Epic asserts that Apple's actions are not only a retaliatory measure for its previous lawsuit but also an attack on its entire business in unrelated areas. The company argues that if left unchecked, Apple's actions will irreparably damage Epic's reputation among Fortnite users and be catastrophic for the future of Unreal Engine.
The lawsuit highlights Apple's letter to Epic, which threatened to stop engineering efforts to improve hardware and software performance of Unreal Engine on Mac and iOS hardware, as well as adoption and support of ARKit features and future VR features into Unreal Engine by its XR team. This could have significant implications for future Apple AR and VR projects.
Epic is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent its business from being crushed before the case even goes to judgment. The proposed preliminary injunction would restrain Apple from removing and delisting Fortnite, as well as taking actions against Epic's other titles and Unreal Engine.
The conflict between Epic and Apple began when Epic started offering Fortnite discounts to users who bypassed Android and iOS app stores, effectively working around the 30 percent cut that these platforms take. Apple then removed Fortnite from its store for violating its policies, prompting Epic to file a lawsuit against it.
In response to the controversy, Apple has stated that Epic has had apps on the App Store for a decade and has benefited from the ecosystem, including tools, testing, and distribution provided by Apple. The company maintains that Epic agreed to the App Store terms and guidelines freely and is now pushing for a special arrangement due to its business interests.
When asked for further comment, Epic Games declined to provide additional information.