Apple says ‘we won’t make an exception’ for Epic Games

In the ongoing dispute between Apple and Epic Games, Apple has responded with a statement saying it won’t make an exception for Epic regarding the 30-percent fee on in-app purchases. Epic recently filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple citing anti-competitive behavior.

Apple said in its statement to The Verge that if the game publisher submits a version of the app excluding the direct payment option for in-app payments, then it can return to the former state. The iPhone-maker said, “We won’t make an exception for Epic because we don’t think it’s right to put their business interests ahead of the guidelines that protect our customers.”

The App Store is designed to be a safe and trusted place for users and a great business opportunity for all developers. Epic has been one of the most successful developers on the App Store, growing into a multibillion dollar business that reaches millions of iOS customers around the world. We very much want to keep the company as part of the Apple Developer Program and their apps on the Store. The problem Epic has created for itself is one that can easily be remedied if they submit an update of their app that reverts it to comply with the guidelines they agreed to and which apply to all developers. We won’t make an exception for Epic because we don’t think it’s right to put their business interests ahead of the guidelines that protect our customers.

The dispute between the two companies started after Fortnite was removed from the App Store. App developers normally have to pay a 30-percent cut to Apple when they sell digital goods or services in-app, but Fortnite’s latest update allowed players to bypass that with Epic’s direct payment integration. Unlike purchasing a book or buying food, a Fornite skin available online is different and it must be bought through the platform’s native payment system, as per the App Store guidelines.