Apple gives in under pressure from Brussels

The suspense resumes around the return on iPhone of Fortnite, the star game banned for almost 4 years by Apple, in the context of the entry into force of the new European legislation on digital technology. Apple, after having authorized it, suspended the account of its publisher, Epic Games, on Wednesday. But Friday evening, the creator of the iPhone reversed his decision.

What really happened during the 48 hours between Wednesday March 6 and Friday March 8, 2024, between Apple, Epic Games – publisher of Fortnite – and the European Commission? “They (Editor’s note: Epic Games) are committed to following the rules, we explain at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, in particular our rules related to the DMA”. We are thinking of the new tax of 50 euro cents, demanded by Apple, for each download made from an application store other than the App Store.

For Fortnite (125 million players in the first year and 9 billion dollars in turnover in two years), it is – certainly – only the old continent and only one of the platforms to play it, but his forced return would be very emblematic. The game phenomenon has become, since the summer of 2020, the symbol of the pressure exerted on Apple, to explode the monopoly of the App Store and eliminate the 30% commission that the company led by Tim Cook earns.

“Apple’s plan to thwart Europe’s new digital markets law is yet another sneaky example of malicious compliance.”

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, publisher of Fortnite

on the X network

Let’s go back to a month and a half ago, precisely on January 25. Apple, which is preparing the arrival of the DMA, announces that it will soon be possible, in Europe, to open alternative application stores for the iPhone, and therefore to bypass the App Store and its 30% commission. The same day, Epic Games announced this – I quote – on the social network X: “Remember Fortnite on iOS? What if we brought it back? Fortnite will be back in Europe, during 2024, via the future EpicGames Store on iOS.”

One of the conditions for opening an alternative store, being to have an Apple developer account, Epic Games requests the reactivation of a developer account based in Sweden: reactivation validated by Apple, as announced by Epic Games on February 16.

Nevertheless, at the same time, Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, does not hold back from expressing on the ex-Twitter all the bad things he thinks – I quote again – about this “new sneaky example of malicious compliance”calling Apple’s announcements “smoking trash”and assimilating the 50 euro cents per download, required by Apple to cover technical costs, to a “phony tax”.

Wednesday March 6, after several weeks without reaction, Apple suspended the Epic Games account and justified itself: according to Apple, previous violations suggested that Epic Games “does not intend to follow the rules. You cannot be trusted and it is proven”would have added Apple, by openly affirming that the publisher of Fortnite is a “threat to the iPhone ecosystem”.

So, do exchanges with Epic Games alone explain Apple’s change of heart on Friday evening and the new reactivation of the Epic Games account? Not according to Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, on the social network X: “Following our contacts, Apple has decided to reverse its decision. From the 2nd day, the DMA is already showing very concrete results”. Here is the umpteenth twist in a battle, which has lasted for almost 4 years.

On this famous August 13, 2020, Epic Games integrates into Fortnite on iPhone, a direct payment by credit card, which does not go through the App Store, and therefore deprives Apple of its 30% commission. Immediately, faced with what Tim Cook considers to be a violation of the rules of use accepted by the publisher, Apple removed Fortnite from its mobile application store. Epic Games files a complaint…

Apple in turn files a complaint. The trial, in May 2021, lasts three weeks. Apple wins on 9 of 10 counts, but loses on unfair competition. Epic Games will go to the Supreme Court to reverse the judgment, in vain. The trial will not be definitively closed until January 2024.

Over the months, Tim Sweeney tried to transform the battle between the two companies into a duel between Tim Cook and him, in vain, except for one detail. Those who know the Apple CEO believe that he will never forgive. Without pressure from the European Commission, the deactivation of the Epic Games account last Wednesday was certainly not planned to last only 48 hours…