Epic pays Apple $6M for profits made after instituting 'Fortnite' third-party payments
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney on Monday announced that his company made a payment of $6 million to Apple for violating App Store rules, as per a ruling handed down in the Epic v. Apple court trial last week.
U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in a ruling on Friday ordered Epic to pay damages related to revenue collected from "Fortnite" sales on the App Store following the company's decision to implement a third-party in-app payment system against Apple's policies.
In an attempt to sidestep App Store commissions, Epic last year surreptitiously integrated and activated a direct payment alternative in its popular game "Fortnite." While Apple removed the title from the App Store shortly after the scheme was made public, some users downloaded and installed the offending app version and conducted in-app purchases through Epic's system.
During trial proceedings, it was revealed that Epic raked in $12,167,719 in revenue through Epic Direct Payment on iOS between August and October 2020. Judge Rogers ruled Epic must pay Apple damages that equate to 30% of that sum, plus 30% of revenue collected from Nov. 1, 2020, through Sept. 10, 2021, the date of judgment. The total comes out to $6 million, if Sweeney's tweet is correct.
There is a chance that Epic could claw back the funds if it wins an appeal of last week's ruling.
Apple in a statement on Friday called the verdict a "resounding victory" as it prevailed on nine out of ten counts. Judge Roger's single finding in Epic's favor, however, will force Apple to include alternative payment methods for in-app purchases, a major change to App Store regulations that could severely impact to Apple's bottom line.
Read on AppleInsider
U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in a ruling on Friday ordered Epic to pay damages related to revenue collected from "Fortnite" sales on the App Store following the company's decision to implement a third-party in-app payment system against Apple's policies.
In an attempt to sidestep App Store commissions, Epic last year surreptitiously integrated and activated a direct payment alternative in its popular game "Fortnite." While Apple removed the title from the App Store shortly after the scheme was made public, some users downloaded and installed the offending app version and conducted in-app purchases through Epic's system.
During trial proceedings, it was revealed that Epic raked in $12,167,719 in revenue through Epic Direct Payment on iOS between August and October 2020. Judge Rogers ruled Epic must pay Apple damages that equate to 30% of that sum, plus 30% of revenue collected from Nov. 1, 2020, through Sept. 10, 2021, the date of judgment. The total comes out to $6 million, if Sweeney's tweet is correct.
There is a chance that Epic could claw back the funds if it wins an appeal of last week's ruling.
Apple in a statement on Friday called the verdict a "resounding victory" as it prevailed on nine out of ten counts. Judge Roger's single finding in Epic's favor, however, will force Apple to include alternative payment methods for in-app purchases, a major change to App Store regulations that could severely impact to Apple's bottom line.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
I'd hope that a huge corporation such as Apple could handle more than one thing at a time. Doesn't say much for Apple multitasking if they can't.
now they need to pay iOS customers for the annoyance of them having any part in breaking up a streamlined and trustworthy payment process.
WTF
and they get their alternative in-app win.
still a win for Apple 9 out of 10.
Sure there will be 3rd party transactions for apps external to the store they'll have to earn consumer trust to take transactions away from the Apple system. If developer make use of those channels they'll do so at their own peril as they'll backing those systems as trusted. The more they push customers the more harshly the judgement will be when one of those systems breaks trust.
The Wild West never went away it got relegated to a tourist attraction. If Epic want a digital theme park that is their punt.
Still with the ruling in place Apple should pull their socks up. There are things they can do to improve the store, bring more customers in, bring more developers in even if there is so much direct revenue but it makes the Customer more likely to stick to other Apple offers like iCloud. I think Pro Apps that run to thousands dollars a seat could now be AppStore citizens and improve the life of Apples Customers who use these Apps.
I'm sure there are many other examples of things Apple could do to improve the store experience and force others to either follow or look like poor offers.
Well, fortunately the ruling doesn't mean we are going back to the shareware and freeware days. It will have a minimal impact, if any. Apple will just find ways to make it very inconvenient for developers to use a third party system. And since it seems they will likely get their cut regardless of who does the transaction, I'm not sure what the motivation to use a third-party system is.
You are right, somehow, someway, it’s always Apple’s fault, no matter what. You see that right here in the AI forums all the time.