Say, friends, would you like to learn more about the latest legal dramas coming out of massive corporations? Because that’s what we’ve got in relation to Apple and Epic Games. And yes, one of these headlines does relate to the legal injunction applied to Apple over third-party payment processors on the App Store.
We’ll start with that one and the changes made by Apple to its App Store services in the EU, which introduces a new “Tier 1” service that, in summary, takes a 5% commission on in-app purchases but strips away automatic updates, automatic downloads, partial search discovery, and access to a wide array of insight and metrics data. Those who want the full suite of regular App Store support must pay the “Tier 2” service fee, which takes a 13% commission and is the default option. Apple is also imposing a new Core Technology Commission fee that allows it to take a 5% bonus on any outside purchase made within App store apps.
This new tiered service structure is in response to the €500M fine imposed by the bloc over the company’s anti-steering practices, which the company still has yet to pay and plans to appeal. The EU will assess these changes to determine whether Apple has to pay additional non-compliance fines.
Unsurprisingly, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is sounding the alarm. “Apple’s new […] malicious compliance scheme is blatantly unlawful in both Europe and the United States and makes a mockery of fair competition in digital markets,” he argues. “Apple blocks auto-updates to these apps, cripples search for them, and blocks customer support and family sharing, and otherwise ensures that using these apps will be an intentionally-miserable experience for users and a commercial failure for developers.”
Of course Epic Games has dirt on its own nose, too: You might remember the $245M settlement reached between Epic and the FTC in 2023 over dark patterns in Fortnite, which granted those tricked into unwanted purchases the ability to get a refund. The filing deadline for that process ended at the top of 2024, but now the FTC has reopened the claims process again until Wednesday, July 9th. The government body has already seen to the payout of nearly $200M in refunds to consumers thus far.
Finally, we note a win for Epic against a cheating cheater: Last December, the company filed a lawsuit against an unnamed player who was found cheating in one of the shooter’s tournaments, and last week Epic announced it won by default as a result of the player ignoring the suit. The cheater will be permabanned from Fortnite and is ordered to pay $175K, which Epic says it will donate to charity.
