Published in Gaming

Epic loses antitrust injunction

by on12 October 2020


Apple fanboys celebrate at the prospect of paying more money

Epic Games "did not win its preliminary injunction in its antitrust action against Apple, which would have forced Apple to allow Fortnite back onto the iPhone, iPad, and Mac".

Judge Gonzalez Rogers hinted during the injunction relief hearing a few weeks ago that she wasn't inclined to side with Epic when it comes to Fortnite. She pointed out at the time that Epic lied in its business relationship with Apple.

"You did something, you lied about it by omission, by not being forthcoming. That's the security issue. That's the security issue! There are a lot of people in the public who consider you guys heroes for what you guys did, but it's still not honest."

The Tame Apple Press has largely rallied behind the defence of Apple in the case claiming Epic was a huge PR stunt to turn gamers against Apple over the expected Fortnite ban. They appear to be saying that even if Apple was being an evil monopolist extorting cash from developers it did not change the fact that Epic breached its contract.

The judge said Epic had breached a contract unilaterally and cannot claim that it did it because of monopoly concerns. Judge Rogers also said that Epic's failure to show it's willing to work with Apple and the court to have the game reinstated proves that Epic isn't necessarily concerned with the well-being of iOS users. "Epic Games cannot simply exclaim 'monopoly' to rewrite agreements giving itself unilateral benefit."

However what the Tame Apple Press didn't mention was that Apple could not continue to punish Epic by retaliating against Unreal Engine and game development customers/

Apple said: "We are grateful that the Court recognized that Epic's actions were not in the best interests of its own customers and that any problems they may have encountered were of their own making when they breached their agreement."

Last modified on 12 October 2020
Rate this item
(2 votes)

Read more about: