Apple fires back at Epic Games, claims CEO wanted Fortnite \u201cspecial deal\u201d Epic Games[jwplayer dDOO1bSy]The legal saga between Epic Games and Apple is far from over, as the California-based company has fired back at Epic\u2019s litigation and Fortnite PR campaign with claims that CEO Tim Sweeney wanted a \u201cspecial deal\u201d for his company specifically. On August 13, Epic Games offered a direct payment option in Fortnite on iOS, circumventing Apple\u2019s payment commissions and subsequently leading to the game\u2019s deletion from the App Store on the basis of a breached contract. Epic responded by launching a lawsuit and massive PR campaign against Apple, grounded in a \u201c1984\u201d parody suggesting monopolistic, repressive behavior on the tech giant\u2019s behalf. https:\/\/twitter.com\/alexsalvinews\/status\/1294179051490271233 In response to critics who believed that Epic\u2019s move was simply self-serving and a billionaire company\u2019s effort to circumvent Apple\u2019s commission rates, Sweeney released a series of Tweets in which he argued that this fight was taken up for altruistic means. In one of his statements, he cemented that logic and confirmed the symbolism of Fortnite\u2019s in-game Orwellian video by explaining that \u201cthe fight isn\u2019t over Epic wanting a special deal, it\u2019s about the basic freedoms of all consumers and developers.\u201d Another argument against supporting #FreeFortnite is “”this is just a billion dollar company fighting a trillion dollar company about money””. But the fight isn’t over Epic wanting a special deal, it’s about the basic freedoms of all consumers and developers. \u2014 Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) August 14, 2020 But on August 21, Apple\u2019s legal team has both taken aim at Epic Games\u2019 lawsuit and, in doing so, revealed that correspondences suggest Sweeney sought a privileged arrangement for his company. In the document, the company\u2019s attorneys reveal that \u201cEpic also does not seek a return to the status quo. As its own correspondence with Apple makes clear, it seeks an exception to Apple\u2019s policies.\u201d This is then furthered by a dispensation from Apple executive, Phil Schiller, who recounts that Sweeney emails requested \u201ca special deal for only Epic.\u201d According to Apple\u2019s attorneys, this \u201cspecial deal\u201d referred to a separate \u201ccompeting Epic Games Store app through the App Store\u201d that would enable consumers to install and purchase apps from Epic instead of through Apple. Apple’s statement is misleading. You can read my email in Apple’s filing, which is publicly available. I specifically said in Epic’s request to the Apple execs, “”We hope that Apple will also make these options equally available to all iOS developers\u2026”” https:\/\/t.co\/yRio08fPSy pic.twitter.com\/HsqjApFQeo \u2014 Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) August 21, 2020 In response to these accusations of desiring preferential treatment, Sweeney has released the full email\u2019s transcript. In it, he expands that \u201cwe hope that Apple will also make these options equally available to all iOS developers.\u201d This rebuttal is in direct contradiction of Apple\u2019s allegations. As the tech giant\u2019s legal team explains in its document, \u201cif Epic\u2019s scheme succeeds, 1.7 million other developers will be eligible to make the same argument.\u201d It appears that was Sweeney and Epic\u2019s intention, as transcripts indicate the desire to extend this treatment to other developers. Those intentions may not matter in court, but they will be relevant to public sentiment. The saga continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Apple fires back at Epic Games, claims CEO wanted Fortnite \u201cspecial deal\u201d Epic Games[jwplayer dDOO1bSy]The legal saga between Epic Games and Apple is far from over, as the California-based company has fired back at Epic\u2019s litigation and Fortnite PR campaign with claims that CEO Tim Sweeney wanted a \u201cspecial deal\u201d for his company specifically. On […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}