Video games: Apple bans its application store from the publisher of Fortnite

Text by: Patricia Lecompte

2 min

This is the latest twist in the battle that has been going on for two months between Apple and Epic Games, the publisher of the Fortnite video game. After having ejected from the Apple store, Apple's online store, the famous shooter, the Apple firm is implementing its decision taken on August 17 to close the developer account of Epic Games.

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Now, Epic can no longer design apps for users of iPhones, smartphones, and other Apple-branded devices. The apple company deprives Epic of access to its development tools, compromising the Unreal Engine, the video game engine created by Epic Games.

Consequence for users: they can no longer download or re-download an application created by Epic or make updates on IOS and macOS platforms, Apple's operating systems.

The two groups have been clashing in court for several weeks. The dispute is based on the amount of the 30% commission that Apple charges for each purchase through its online store Apple store.

Epic Games, which filed a complaint against Apple for abuse of a dominant position, tried to bypass the payment system in order to directly collect payments from players in connection with its applications.

Apple then threatened to close the Epic Games account. The threat is now being implemented, but it is not without consequences for all of the publisher's other customers hosted by Apple. They find themselves deprived of access to a program necessary to run their applications.

Faced with Apple's warning, several developers have taken the lead and abandoned Epic Games in favor of other game engine providers.

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• Video games