Home
Games
Games News
Apple, Epic Games CEOs on List of Witnesses in Fortnite Case

Apple, Epic Games CEOs on List of Witnesses in Fortnite Case

Apple and Epic Games have been in a legal battle since Fortnite tried to avoid a 30 percent App Store fee by launching its in-app payment system.

By Reuters | Updated: 22 March 2021 10:21 IST

Apple, Epic Games CEOs on List of Witnesses in Fortnite Case

Epic Games took its fight against Apple to EU antitrust regulators after failing to make headway in US

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Highlights

Epic Games listed its founder and CEO Tim Sweeney among its own witnesses
Epic Games had tried to avoid a 30 percent App Store fee
Epic Games said developers speaking out against Apple has become louder

Apple and Epic Games have listed their chief executive officers as potential witnesses in a case between the iPhone maker and the video game developer over the App Store payment system, court documents showed.

Apple and Epic Games, creator of the popular game Fortnite, have been in a legal battle since last year, when Epic Games tried to avoid a 30 percent App Store fee by launching its own in-app payment system. The move prompted Apple to ban Fortnite from its store.

In addition to CEO Tim Cook, Apple also named software chief Craig Federighi and App Store Vice President Matt Fischer on a tentative list of witnesses submitted to the US District Court Northern District of California Oakland Division, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

Fortnite Maker Adds Google Australia to Legal Fight Against Tech Giants

Epic Games listed its founder and CEO Tim Sweeney, its game store manager Steve Allison, and Thomas Ko, head of online business strategy, among its own witnesses for the trial.

"The chorus of developers speaking out against Apple and their anticompetitive practices has become louder," Epic Games said in a statement.

Apple did not respond to a Reuters request for comment, but told Bloomberg in a statement that it felt "confident the case will prove that Epic purposefully breached its agreement solely to increase its revenues."

Epic Games also recently took its fight against Apple to EU antitrust regulators after failing to make headway in US. CEO Sweeney said Apple's control of its platform has tilted the level playing field.

"The 30 percent they charge as their app tax, they can make it 50 percent or 90 percent or 100 percent. Under their theory of how these markets are structured, they have every right to do that," he said last month.

Some important changes are taking place with Orbital podcast. We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.