Apple drops Fortnite from App Store amid direct payment row
Apple has dropped the hugely popular Fortnite game from its App Store after the game’s developer introduced a direct payment plan that bypasses Apple’s platform.
Apple takes a 30% cut from in-app revenue purchases, which has long been a sore spot with developers.
Fortnite is free, but users can pay for in-game additional items like weapons and skins.
Its developer, Epic Games, said in a blog post that it was introducing Epic Direct payments, a direct payment plan for Apple’s iOS and Google Play. Epic said the system is the same payment system it already uses to process payments on PC and Mac computers and Android phones.
Epic Games has defied the App Store Monopoly. In retaliation, Apple is blocking Fortnite from a billion devices.
— Fortnite (@Fortnite) August 13, 2020
Visit https://t.co/K3S07w5uEk and join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming "1984" https://t.co/tpsiCW4gqK
Apple said the service violated its guidelines.
“Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services,” Apple said in a statement.
Apple added that Epic has had apps on the App Store for a decade and benefited from its tools, testing and distribution. It said it was working with Epic to resolve the violations and return Fortnite to the app store.
Epic Games did not immediately return a request for comment. Epic’s Fortnite Twitter account said the company would debut a new short film called Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite, a seeming parody of Apple’s iconic 1984 commercial that introduced the Macintosh computer.
It has also filed a complaint against Apple in the US District Court in Northern California for dropping Fortnite.
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