Last Friday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued a sentence: Apple was not considered a monopoly, although it should facilitate the introduction of other payment systems in its App Store by allowing links and buttons in the applications. Secondly, Epic was supposed to reward Apple in damages, after introducing its own payment system against the contractual rules of the App Store.
The total amount of this compensation amounts to 6 million dollars (5.07 million euros) and Epic has already processed the payment according to the demands of the trial, as he has made known directly Tim sweeney on his Twitter account. Unfortunately, none of this anticipates the possible return of Fortnite to the App Store.
Epic pays what it owes
Apple has reimbursed the amount owed to Apple, its CEO, Tim Sweeney, has made known directly. Last Friday’s ruling forced Epic to compensate Apple for having violated the contractual agreement with Apple by which the conditions to be met to publish applications in the App Store are governed.
Epic therefore had to pay Apple the 30% of all income generated while its own payment system was active, which skipped the integrated purchases of the App Store of which Apple is reimbursed 30% with exceptions. According to the judge’s estimates, between August and October 2020 Fortnite generated $ 12,176,719, of which 30%, 3.6 million, had to be reimbursed to Apple. The remaining 2.4 million correspond to the collection from November until the trial.
With a brief tweet accompanied by an Apple Pay logo, Tim Sweeney has made it known that Epic has already done their part of a sentence that has sat like a jug of cold water. The company has already announced that it would appeal the decision, promising that the fight continues.
Epic has paid Apple $ 6,000,000 as ordered by the court. pic.twitter.com/trulCfjE9S
– Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 13, 2021
Unfortunately, none of this is any change to what Fortnite’s return to the App Store does. On the one hand, Apple canceled Epic’s developer account after the introduction of the external payment system, and you have no obligation to restore it. Apple’s official position is that they will allow Epic to return to its app store as soon as it “sticks to the same conditions as the rest.”
This is in contrast to Epic’s stance. Sweeney stressed that Fortnite will return to the App Store as soon as Epic can offer a payment system that competes fairly with Apple’s in-app purchases. Without either side giving its arm to twist, for the moment Fortnite is still in the middle of the crossfire between Apple and Epic. Fortnite on iOS: neither is there nor is it expected. At least for now.