Supreme Court won’t hear Epic vs. Apple case over Fortnite. Epic CEO responds
The long-running antitrust battle between Apple and Epic Games seemingly concluded Tuesday as the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear either party’s appeals in a case that addressed how (and how much) iPhone users pay for apps.
The Supreme Court will leave in place lower-court rulings that allowed Apple to continue prohibiting iPhone users from downloading apps outside the App Store and from making in-app purchases outside Apple’s payment system.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney criticized the Supreme Court’s denial on X, formerly Twitter, calling it “a sad outcome for all developers.” Yet Sweeney’s fight against Apple, which began more than three years ago, has resulted in one lasting change: Apple can no longer prevent app developers from mentioning or linking to alternative payment options outside the App Store.
“As of today, developers can begin exercising their court-established right to tell US customers about better prices on the web,” Sweeney wrote. Apple has not yet responded to a request for comment on the Supreme Court decision.
Upending this “anti-steering rule” was Epic’s sole win when the Cary, North Carolina-based company squared off against Apple in a 2021 U.S. District Court trial. Then last April, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s decision, which determined Apple does not maintain an unlawful monopoly via its App Store. Both sides appealed the ruling, setting the stage for a potential Supreme Court showdown.
At the core of the Apple vs. Epic case is Fortnite, Epic’s widely popular video game, which the company said had 100 million players in November.
In August 2020, Epic introduced an alternative way for iPhone and Android users to buy “v-bucks,” Fortnite’s in-game currency. To that point, iPhone and Android users had to purchase v-bucks through Apple’s and Google’s respective payment systems, both of which took 30% of the revenue generated by major app developers. Apple argued this closed “walled garden” approach was required to properly safeguard its iOS operating system.
Sweeney rejected this argument, believing Apple levied excessive fees. His decision to circumvent Apple’s payment system was intended to draw the tech giant into a legal tussle, which it did. The same day Epic offered v-bucks to customers directly, Apple booted Fortnite from the App Store. Epic sued Apple, and Apple countersued.
Among North Carolina’s wealthiest residents, the billionaire Sweeney has not shied away from engaging two of the world’s richest companies in lengthy antitrust proceedings, even as other companies and state governments have settled.
Epic also sued Google in the summer of 2020 after Fortnite was removed from the Google Play Store. In December, a federal jury unanimously ruled that Google’s Android app store has been supported by anticompetitive measures which harm both consumers and developers.
A judge will determine how to enforce this verdict, which Google says it plans to appeal.