Epic vs. Apple’s first round of verdicts came out, Epic only won in third-party in-app purchases

In the first round of the duel between Apple and Epic Games, Apple basically won. Judge Gonzales Rogers ruled that Epic Games won the lawsuit only on the complaint that “the inability to use third-party payment mechanisms in the app violated California’s fair competition law.” The other Epic Games’ allegations were all convicted, and Apple’s counter-accusation against Epic was All wins.

In the only item that lost the lawsuit, Apple was asked not to “in addition to Apple’s in-app purchases, prevent developers from adding buttons, links, or other mechanisms to guide consumers to third-party purchase channels”, and not to “block Developers and customers communicate outside the app through the contact information obtained in the app.” This prohibition order will take effect in 90 days.

In other respects, Apple was awarded in favor of the lawsuit, including Apple’s failure to violate fair competition, and Apple’s counter-claim against Epic’s compensation for breach of contract. For the latter, Epic is required to compensate Apple at least US$3.65 million, that is, 30% of the total 12.2 million paid to Epic by Fortnite iOS players between August and October 2020, plus all those who have passed through the system since November last year. 30% of revenue.

The core of the whole lawsuit is that Epic believes that developers should not be forced to use Apple’s payment mechanism on iOS, so that Apple can earn 30% of the commission, but should have the right to freely choose the payment mechanism. Therefore, this judgment is only half the success for Epic-now developers can “direct” users to other payment mechanisms, but it is still not possible to choose third-party payment mechanisms directly in the app. With consumers’ fear of trouble, this little difference may represent a loss of countless money. The two major services, Spotify and Netflix, are not willing to allow Apple to take the 30% of the rake, so users are currently not allowed to subscribe to their services through iOS.

Of course, legal battles are rarely settled in one round. Epic Games may appeal, and Apple may appeal. I am afraid it will be a long time before “Fortress Heroes” returns to iOS.