Apple terminates Epic Games developer account calling it a ‘threat’

The showdown between Apple and Epic Games has started up once again with the news that the iPhone maker has terminated the game developer’s account.

The first few months of 2024 have been littered with gauntlets being thrown down between two long-feuding giants, Fortnite developer Epic Games and tech giant Apple. Starting with Epic Games CEO Time Sweeney accusing Apple of acting in a “devious” manner in January, this was then followed by a tenuous truce when Epic Games returned to iOS, at least in some regions.

Now, however, the relationship has taken a turn for the worse as Epic Games shares that Apple has terminated its developer account. This reverses the return of Epic Games to Apple devices in the EU.

According to the game developer, Apple’s lawyers sent a letter stating Epic Games Sweden’s developer account would be terminated in a move that Epic describes as a “serious violation of the DMA” in a company blog post.

“In terminating Epic’s developer account, Apple is taking out one of the largest potential competitors to the Apple App Store,” reads the article. “They are undermining our ability to be a viable competitor and they are showing other developers what happens when you try to compete with Apple or are critical of their unfair practices.

“If Apple maintains its power to kick a third party marketplace off iOS at its sole discretion, no reasonable developer would be willing to utilize a third party app store, because they could be permanently separated from their audience at any time.”

According to Epic, Apple stated the reason for the terminated account was because the game developer publicly criticized its proposed DMA compliance plan, citing this X post from this thread written by CEO Tim Sweeney.

“Apple is retaliating against Epic for speaking out against Apple’s unfair and illegal practices, just as they’ve done to other developers time and time again,” wrote Epic.

In response to Epic’s blog post, Apple shared the following statement with Tech Crunch:

“Epic’s egregious breach of its contractual obligations to Apple led courts to determine that Apple has the right to terminate ‘any or all of Epic Games’ wholly owned subsidiaries, affiliates, and/or other entities under Epic Games’ control at any time and at Apple’s sole discretion.’ In light of Epic’s past and ongoing behavior, Apple chose to exercise that right.

“The company also told us its right to terminate Epic’s account is based on the September 2021 judgment which resulted from Epic’s litigation against Apple. This judgment stated that “Apple has the contractual right to terminate its DPLA with any or all of Epic Games’ wholly owned subsidiaries, affiliates, and/or other entities under Epic Games’ control at any time and at Apple’s sole discretion.”

Apple went on to add that Epic Games Sweden entered into the Apple Developer Progam License Agreement via a click-through agreement, therefore not requiring any executive review by Apple at the time.

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