Ultimately, the ruling given by Judge Rogers could cost both parties a lot of money and neither one is walking away with a « victory royale. »
On August 13, 2020, Fortnite developer Epic Games “ declared war on Apple ” after the company’s frustrations with the iOS version of their app being forced to use Apple Pay reached a boiling point. Following their 1984- inspired declaration, Epic Games proceeded to add an option in Fortnite ‘s main menu that allowed players to choose to pay Epic directly — and at a lower cost — in order to cut Apple Pay out of the equation. As you can imagine, tech giant Apple didn’t take too kindly to Epic’s bold move, and quickly removed the Fortnite app from the App Store, kicking off a massive legal battle between the two. Now, over a year later, the judge overseeing the case, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, has issued a ruling in favor of Epic Games, stating that Apple can no longer force developers to use its own payment system within their apps as it engages in what the state of California refers to as “anticompetitive conduct.
