(San Francisco) More than three years after the start of the conflict between Apple and Epic Games, the iPhone manufacturer will authorize mobile applications to bypass its payment system, but under conditions that make the publisher of the video game Fortnite bristle .
“Epic will challenge Apple’s bad faith compliance plan in court,” Epic boss Tim Sweeney said on X on Tuesday evening.
Apple had just detailed the changes implemented in a court document.
The Californian group now allows application developers in the United States to let their users make digital purchases (bonuses in video games, subscriptions, etc.) without going through the App Store payment system. applications), until now essential.
If they make this choice, publishers will no longer pay Apple the commission of up to 30%.
But they will still have to pay a 27% commission and comply with other restrictive conditions, “in order to minimize the considerable risks posed by external payment links”, explain Apple’s lawyers.
“These terms are necessary to protect user privacy and security, maintain the integrity of Apple’s ecosystem, promote the flow of information, avoid user confusion, and enable effective review of developers’ applications” , they justify.
As for the commission, it “allows you to avoid unpaid use of the Apple platform and its services […] », They further detail.
The Apple brand plans to audit developers to verify that they are paying it.
“It kills price competition. Developers can’t offer cheaper digital products on the web after paying 3-6% to a third-party payment processor and this new 27% Apple tax,” protested Tim Sweeney.
He also criticizes the electronics giant for excluding users from the “ordinary payment flow of the application”, which risks discouraging them.
Epic accuses Apple and Google of abusing their power over the global mobile economy through their iOS and Android operating systems.
Two years ago, following the lawsuit between Apple and Epic, a US federal judge asked Apple to let publishers offer alternative payment methods to users, while declaring that Epic had failed to prove infringement of competition law.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court announced that it would not hear appeals from Apple or Epic in the long-running case.
The publisher nevertheless scored an unexpected victory against Google last month, when a jury ruled in its favor.