Epic Games, the developers behind the popular battle royale game Fortnite are locked in a legal battle against Apple since Apple has removed the game from its App Store last week. Epic Games had filed for a anti-trust lawsuit against Apple for removing Fortnite from the platform and suspending the developer account of Epic Games.

On 13^th August, Epic Games released an update for Fortnite which allowed the consumers to pay Epic Games directly for in-app purchases at a discount, bypassing the App Store’s Payment Policy. All the games are required to pay the App Store a 30% fee commission for the transaction. Apple subsiquently pulled the game down from the App Store for violating the App Store guidelines. Epic Games even updated the Android application with similar payment structure, which enabled Epic to bypass the Google Play Store commission. Similarly, even Google removed Fortnite from the Play Store, though the game is still available on Android from third-party stores like Samsung Store etc and from Epic Games directly.

Apart from Fortnite, since Apple has also suspended the developer acccount of Epic Games, thus preventing them from accessing Apple’s SDK. This move is going to affect other developers too since Epic Games also owns the Unreal Engine, which is used by some other game developers and creators. Epic in response asked a Northern California court to stop Apple from ending Epic’s ‌App Store‌ access with a temporary restraining order (TRO). In this ongoing legal battle, software giant Microsoft defends Epic Games. “Apple’s discontinuation of Epic’s ability to develop and support Unreal Engine for iOS or macOS will harm game creators and gamers,” said Kevin Gammill, Microsoft’s general manager of gaming developer experiences.

“In the wake of its own voluntary actions, Epic now seeks emergency relief. But the ‘emergency’ is entirely of Epic’s own making,” Apple’s response reads. “Developers who work to deceive Apple, as Epic has done here, are terminated.” “If developers can avoid the digital checkout, it is the same as if a customer leaves an Apple retail store without paying for shoplifted product: Apple does not get paid.”

Right when the court hearing started, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, said she is not inclined to grant relief for the game (Fortnite) since it’s Epic’s own wrong doing. Epic can rectify the situation by updating the game. The judge said she is inclined to grant relief to Unreal Engine since it’s used by third-party developers. Lawyers from both the sides argued to prove their point right. Epic largely focused on arguing why its games should be able to remain in the ‌App Store‌ without changes, while Apple focused on reasons why it should be able to block the Unreal Engine.