We re more than a third of a way into the long-awaited Epic vs Apple antitrust trial, but there s still no indication as to where the gavel may fall when the case comes to a close.
GamesIndustry.biz spoke to legal experts who specialise in this field to get more insight into what we have learned so far, how well each party is putting forward their argument, and what we might expect as the focus shifts from Epic to Apple.
The opening week has concentrated on Epic as the plaintiff putting forward its case. Apple has been allowed some cross-examination of witnesses, but it won t be until later this week that it steps up its defence.
As part of Epic s argument that Apple s App Store is anti-competitive, the trial has revealed a lot of internal Apple deliberations on negotiations court exhibits including email threads fill 60 binders worth of documents with some of its most important partners.
The documents paint a portrait of a company very aware of its highest-grossing and most important apps, that regularly engages in negotiations with companies including Netflix, Microsoft, Facebook and even Epic Games itself, whose Fortnite game was one of the top apps on Apple s App Store.
While the emails don t show the App Store team compromising on Apple s rules about what s allowed on the store, they did offer other concessions, including front-page placement on the App Store, coordination and publicity through Apple product launches, access to exclusive programming features, and attempts to loop in senior executives to find compromises.
Apple and Epic Trial Opens With a Tour of the Fortnite âMetaverseâ
Epic has accused Apple of unfairly using its App Storeâs power to take a cut of the money made in Fortnite, a popular online game.
Tim Sweeney, the chief executive of Epic Games, entering federal court in Oakland, Calif., on Monday.Credit.Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Published May 3, 2021Updated May 24, 2021
OAKLAND, Calif. â Cosmetics. Digital dances called âemotesâ A currency called V-Bucks. Virtual concerts. Fortnite, the popular gaming platform, is more than just a game. It is a âmetaverse,â full of virtual life, said Tim Sweeney, chief executive of Epic Games, the company that created Fortnite.
Source: Epic Games
In one of the final steps before the Apple versus Epic dispute enters trial in May, both Apple and the Fortnite developer has filed a Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law document with the Northern District of California. Epic s 365-page submission sets out the company s case against Apple regarding the App Store.
Epic s document, released publicly in a lightly redacted form, is divided into almost a dozen sections, each of which concentrates on a different element of the dispute. However, much of these sections recount the history of the dispute, and the specific arguments boil down to two elements.
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Apple intends to argue that it has plenty of competition when it comes to video game transactions, pushing back against Epic Games assertions that it maintains an unfair and anti-competitive monopoly.
Fortnite was pulled from the App Store by the iPhone maker.
The popular battle royale shooter was removed from Apple platforms after Epic used an unauthorised third-party payment method to circumvent store fees, thereby breaching App Store guidelines.
In retaliation, Epic suggested that Apple had only removed
Fortnite because it had defied the App Store Monopoly, and accused the company of eradicating competition and holding developers to ransom with (recently revised) 30 percent platform fees.