While Epic Games continues to fight Apple, urging US courts to force the smartphone maker to reintroduce the Fortnite game to the App Store, Apple has also filed a lawsuit against its former partner. In the submitted documents, Apple demands compensation from Epic Games for violating the terms of the contract they had, which led to the delisting of Fortnite and the deactivation of the company’s developer account.
Epic Games violated the contract with Apple concluded when registering in the App Store
In a complaint filed on Tuesday, Apple mentions that Epic Games intentionally violated the terms of the contract and that it brought “damages to Apple”. The damages to which the company refers are probably moral, as Apple’s image is affected by these allegations from Epic games. But the most interesting part is related to the company’s business, which refers mainly to the iOS ecosystem and the App Store.
Epic Games is asking Apple to open the iOS platform. That’s because Epic Games wants to open an alternative store on iOS, through which to sell games and various in-game items for Fortnite. The Epic Games movement a month ago tried to offer a reduced price for users, but at the same time to increase the company’s revenues. Basically, giving up the 30% commission and lowering the price of micro transactions in Fortnite by 20%, Epic Games remained 10% more from each transaction, while users spent 20% less.
Apple says Epic threatens “iOS ecosystem”
However, Apple says that this move, if left unpunished, threatens “the existence of the iOS ecosystem and its immense value for consumers.” The truth is that Apple is always trying to present the iOS system as one that offers greater security of personal data, and the argument for banning other alternative payment methods and other competing stores is that Apple can not guarantee their security.
Of course, the reason why Apple does not want to offer such options is primarily related to its revenue from the App Store. With a commission of 30% of each transaction, the App Store has become an extremely important source of income for the company. Thus, giving up some of these sales would affect future revenue ratios, which could create a chain reaction: investors could withdraw their support and money, and Apple’s stock market value would fall below the two trillion reached two years ago. just a few weeks.