Epic Wins Major Legal Victory: Apple Will No Longer Charge Fees for External Purchases on iOS

Epic Games has scored an important legal victory in the United States against Apple. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has ordered Apple to remove its restrictions on alternative payment methods, which were the reason Fortnite was removed from iOS. Epic has also announced new support for developers.

This decision requires Apple to stop charging a 27% fee on purchases made through links inside games and apps that developers use to avoid this charge. Additionally, Apple is now prohibited from displaying messages that try to scare or confuse users about external purchases.

The situation could worsen for Apple since the judge stated that Apple violated a court order from 2021 and that its vice president, Alex Roman, “lied under oath.” This could lead to contempt charges against Apple.

Epic Will Bring Fortnite Back to iOS

Epic sees this as a win and is offering Apple the chance to end all current and future lawsuits. If Apple accepts this global ruling, Fortnite could return to iOS as early as next week.

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, commented, “We were one of Apple’s best partners for more than a decade, from the point we released Infinity Blade for iOS and did amazing Unreal Engine support, right up until we started fighting them in 2020. I’ve been fighting Apple for a long time. But I’m an iPhone customers. This is an awesome device. I love having it. I don’t love the policies that Apple has made with respect to stores, but there’s a lot of respect of Epic towards Apple’s quality of product and focus.”

Apple has already updated its App Store rules: it now allows links to external purchases and enables apps to use alternative payment methods.

Epic Games Store is also rolling out new incentives for creators starting in June, including a 0% fee on the first million dollars earned by an app. After that, the fee will be the usual 12%, which is still lower than other digital stores.

Epic will also introduce a feature that lets developers launch their web stores on Epic Games Store, enabling external app purchases. “With new legal rulings in place, developers will be able to send players from games to make digital purchases from webshops on any platform that allows it, including iOS in the European Union and United States.”