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Conflictual relationship: Apple and “Fortnite”
Photo: Dado Ruvic / REUTERS
Apple has reversed its decision to prevent Fortnite maker Epic Games from setting up its own app store in Europe.
An account from the developer company was activated again.
Tim Sweeney, head of Epic Games, celebrated the move as the “first big victory” of the European Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The new EU law requires operators of large platforms to allow apps to be downloaded from external sources.
Apple and Epic Games have been arguing for years.
The reason: Apple keeps 15 to 30 percent of the purchase price for transactions in its App Store.
Epic Games wanted to avoid this fee – with hidden software code.
This meant that “Fortnite” players could buy virtual items without Apple making any money.
Apple therefore threw “Fortnite” from the App Store in August 2020.
Epic Games, on the other hand, went to court in the USA, but lost in all instances.
With the DMA, Epic Games saw a new opportunity for the popular game to return to iPhones.
But Apple initially tried to prevent this.
After previous rule violations by Epic Games, Apple had the right to exclude the company from the platform, it said.
The EU Commission then got involved.
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote on
Since day 2, #DMA has already shown very concrete results!«
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