Epic has recently sued Apple for banning the game ‘Fortnite’ on the Apple Store. In response to Apple saying they would terminate Epic’s Developer Program membership, the game development company condemned it to be ‘overboard retaliation’, something that Microsoft agrees on.
Without a Developer Program membership Epic would be unable to offer macOS and iOS developers access to Unreal Engine. Kevin Gammill, Microsoft gaming executive mentioned that discontinuing support for the popular game engine would ‘harm gamers and game creators’, specifically Forza Street for iPad and iPhone, among others.
Apple stated that Epic committed ‘self inflicted wounds’ when they bypassed the in-app purchase system rules, and that the company could have avoided a lawsuit when they didn’t introduce a direct payment option in Fortnite. Furthermore, the Cupertino-based firm said they’ll be happy to have the app back if the violations are corrected.
A preliminary injunction hearing is set for 3pm in California, which means Apple will have to put the app back on the App Store.