Apple Deals Another Major Blow To Epic Games

The Apple vs Epic Games saga keeps on taking interesting turns. What began with the Fortnite ban has now turned into ‘David vs Goliath’. (Apple obviously being the Goliath). Epic calling out Apple’s monopolistic reign definitely stirred things up. Since then, a lot has gone down between the two parties as both of them resorted to taking legal action.

The most recent development suggests that Apple has taken yet another step against Epic. Popular industry insider Daniel Ahmad tweeted “Apple has said that it will not let Epic Games re-apply to the Apple Developer Program for at least one year. Epic Games did file a preliminary injunction last week to overturn this ban. Assuming no changes, it’s unlikely Fortnite returns to iOS before August 2021.”

This is a major cause for concern as Fortnite has a considerable player base on iOS.

Considering almost 1/3 of the players are from iOS, this is a massive blow to Epic. But, this doesn’t seem to deter Apple from taking any other measures to ensure that Epic and all its other systems are blocked from accessing the iOS and App Store.

Also Read: Xbox Series X and S Still Trump PlayStation 5 In Terms Of Expandable Storage

The best example for this would be when Apple blocked Unreal Engine’s developer access, a few weeks ago. Epic obviously appealed against this and the court eventually overturned this decision. But this proved that Apple is going all out against Epic and isn’t afraid to inflict collateral damage.

Epic Games is in a tough spot against Apple

This recent decision has landed in a tough spot. It only meant that even if there is a court decision in favor of Tim Sweeney & Co., Fortnite cannot possibly return to the App Store before August 2021.

Epic Games has a lot of support from companies such as Netflix, Spotify, and Tinder. They have had similar issues with Apple in the past and had to give in to its policies. Even steam founder Gabe Newell has voiced his opinion against Apple’s policies.

But considering there are many different ways Apple can hurt Epic, it has put a lot of things into perspective. Tim Sweeney’s fight may be for the greater good, or as he “The fight is for basic freedoms.” But it doesn’t change the fact that they overly underestimated Apple and their ability to retaliate. Marketing gimmicks and verbal attacks aside, Epic really needs to buckle up for whatever comes next. There is no going back now and things are about to get uglier between the two. Whatever the outcome may be, it’ll define the future of the gaming and tech industry.