Fortnite developers Epic Games rattled tech giants Apple on the fourth day of their trial. The two giants are currently engaged in a legal battle after the former filed an antitrust lawsuit against the tech giant.
On day three of the trial, Apple practically destroyed Epic with their questionnaires, facts, and policies. However, the latter took the opportunity the next day to return the humiliation to the Cupertino-based company. Apple was even forced to indicate that they monopolize the market with questionable methods.
Popular YouTuber Golden recently came out with a video on YouTube that gives a clear insight into the proceedings of day four of the Epic vs Apple lawsuit.
This article will focus on how the day four trial turned out and how it was brought to light that Apple had used questionable methods to monopolize the market.
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Fortnite developers take on Apple on day 4 of the trial
Here’s a refresher of what has happened so far. Epic challenged the American multinational technology organization’s restrictions on apps with in-app purchasing methods outside of the services offered by the App Store. It was even pointed out that the 30% revenue cut taken by Apple is a bit too much and monopolistic.
Apple retaliated by filing a lawsuit against Fortnite’s developers, asserting that it purposely breached the terms of the contract. The subject was taken to court, and the trial began on May 3rd
On day four of the trial, Epic employee Thomas Ko explained before the court of law why their payment system was 100% safe. This was significant as Apple claims that allowing third-party payment providers could ruin their security and user experience.
Epic also justified that their mode of payment is exclusively for buying V-Bucks in Fortnite and nothing else.
The lawyer proceeded to ask Apple whether any kind of study has been conducted, which indicates that any type of security issues will surface if a gaming company was allowed to use a non-Apple purchasing method. The company confessed that they hadn’t conducted any study as such.
It must be remembered that Apple has claimed from the very beginning that third-party payment options will only ruin security and user experience. However, it turns out there is no evidence to back up their claims.
Epic also pointed out that apps like Amazon can use their personal payment processing unit, whereas Epic has faced objections for including it for Fortnite. Apple clarified that these apps sell person-to-person experiences instead of digital purchases. Hence, Amazon can use it, but Epic cannot.
Apple again faced the question from the lawyers whether they have any evidence of the payment processing system of apps such as Amazon being less secure than Apple’s. Once again, they failed to present any kind of evidence to prove their claims.
Apple tried to defend its statement and mentioned that it updated its terms of service to allow gifting options. Apparently, it was through the requests of Fortnite that Apple made the changes in terms and services. However, this clarification couldn’t keep Fortnite’s developers down as they moved on to bring the issue of Fortnite assets being leaked by Apple.
Fortnite assets had to be sent to Apple for their reviews before the release. However, the latter took the opportunity to leak several of the game’s assets before the original release, which included leaks of holiday outfits and music from the Marshmellow live event.
Apple also confirmed that the only way to get apps on iOS is through the App Store. However, it also pointed out that the Enterprise program and Testflight are the two exceptions.
Fortnite’s developers then pushed Apple into confessing that it has rejected apps that use third-party payment apps. It also pointed out that Apple has terminated thousands of developers since 2017 just because they used a third-party payment procedure.
The final nail was drilled by Apple themselves when they confessed that they have more freedom than other app developers.
Apple tried to justify its actions by stating that developers are free to create web apps that could be added to home screens. However, this argument also turned against them as Epic pointed out that the unavailability of notifications, AR toolkit, and a mere 50 MB usage on the memory limit makes it quite difficult to code and develop.
A document from a top App Store Manager also revealed that she feels extremely strongly about not featuring Apple’s competitors on the App Store. App Store VP Matt Fischer tried to defend this by stating the concerned person was not well informed. But Apple went ahead and confirmed the statement.
The Epic vs Apple trial is taking interesting turns day by day, and it isn’t easy to deduce whose side the verdict will go. Both Apple and Epic have had balanced progress so far, and Fortnite fans will have to wait patiently to get the final judgment.