Apple shutting down Sign in with Apple support for Epic Games accounts
Epic Games users will no longer be able to sign in into apps using the Sign in with Apple service, the "Fortnite" maker said Wednesday.
Credit: AppleInsider
On Aug. 28, Apple shut down Epic Games' developer account after it refused to comply with App Store guidelines. The two companies are embroiled in an ongoing legal battle centered around Apple's app policies and its 30% commission of in-app purchases.
In a tweet Wednesday, Epic Games said that "Apple will no longer allow users" to use Sign in with Apple for authenticating Epic Games accounts as soon as Sept. 11.
The "Fortnite" creator added that users should update their email and password to avoid losing access to their accounts. Once support for the sign-in service ends, users may need to contact Epic to recover access.
Sign in with Apple is an Apple service first introduced in iOS 13 that offers privacy protections for logging into accounts. Epic Games is losing access to the feature because its developer account has been shut down.
The ongoing saga between Apple and Epic Games started when the latter company baited Apple into removing "Fortnite" from the App Store. Once Apple pulled the battle royale game, Epic filed an antitrust lawsuit and launched an anti-Apple marketing campaign. After an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a restraining order to restore "Fortnite," Apple filed a counterclaim against Epic for alleged breach of contract.
Credit: AppleInsider
On Aug. 28, Apple shut down Epic Games' developer account after it refused to comply with App Store guidelines. The two companies are embroiled in an ongoing legal battle centered around Apple's app policies and its 30% commission of in-app purchases.
In a tweet Wednesday, Epic Games said that "Apple will no longer allow users" to use Sign in with Apple for authenticating Epic Games accounts as soon as Sept. 11.
Apple will no longer allow users to sign into Epic Games accounts using "Sign In with Apple" as soon as September 11, 2020. If you used "Sign In with Apple", please make sure your email and password are up to date. https://t.co/4XZX5g0eaf
-- Epic Games Store (@EpicGames)
The "Fortnite" creator added that users should update their email and password to avoid losing access to their accounts. Once support for the sign-in service ends, users may need to contact Epic to recover access.
Sign in with Apple is an Apple service first introduced in iOS 13 that offers privacy protections for logging into accounts. Epic Games is losing access to the feature because its developer account has been shut down.
The ongoing saga between Apple and Epic Games started when the latter company baited Apple into removing "Fortnite" from the App Store. Once Apple pulled the battle royale game, Epic filed an antitrust lawsuit and launched an anti-Apple marketing campaign. After an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a restraining order to restore "Fortnite," Apple filed a counterclaim against Epic for alleged breach of contract.
Comments
That's why you don't try to scam Apple. This is Epics fault.
Sign in with Apple is the best.
They knew the rules, they broke them.
Deal with it.
If you signed up through Apple, then bought V-Bucks through the App Store, and never created a full Epic account for use with other devices. You're screwed. Apple disabling Sign in With Apple leaves these users with nothing.
This is incredibly screwed up for Apple to do this, and completely sours me on the service knowing that if Mozilla gets their developer certification cancelled for whatever reason, my Firefox account is gone along with my Pocket account.
What a boneheaded move from Apple, this move only harms the users of the app, not Epic.
Epic put user's accounts at risk without asking the users. Not Apple. They put their own business and income at risk without asking the shareholders. Not Apple. They constructed a co-ordinated and premeditated attack on their contract with Apple, a contract they entered into of their own free will with full knowledge of the rules they now dispute. Epic put their hand in the mousetrap with full knowledge of what they were risking. The pain is not the mousetrap's fault.
But nope, their plan is to play the victim role and get people like you riled up against Apple without cause.
if you are a foreign worker hired by a company that do illegal business. You should not blame the country that kick you out, blame the company who do illegal things.
And since it was Epic that violated their developer license contract with Apple in the first place, that forced Apple to suspend Epic developer license and all the services that comes with that license, its Epic that will be stealing their account holders money, if they don't fix this.
But I can see Epic taking their sweet time in helping their account holders regain access to their money, all the while blaming Apple for causing the problem in the first place and hoping there are enough people like you that will believe their lies, to make it worth their while in using their own account holders as pawns in their effort to not pay Apple, what they paid MS, Sony and Nintendo for years,without complaining about it.
That's my question. If Apple let you install Android and everything that it comes with, would you be happy, or would you be happy only when Apple modifies iOS to your liking? ANSWER ME.
Not sure why you blame Apple for Epics scumbaggery but ok.
As long as Mozilla or Firefox don't break the rules you have nothing to worry about. Hasn't happened in 12 years. Most likely Mozilla will go out of business before Apple kicks them out of their platform. Either way you lose their features.
If you look at the wider scope, this means Apple can effectively remove people's ability to login to any service that has Sign in with Apple whenever it feels like it. That does not sit well with me at all. I don't want Apple deciding what third party services I can access. This just adds even more ammunition to the antitrust suits, showing Apple has too much control - remember Apple requires Sign in with Apple if an app has any other third party sign-in solution available. This means Apple is the de-facto sole arbiter of whether some customers of a third party can use that third party's services whether they use the App Store or not, and Apple can decide at its sole discretion whether that third party's customers can login or not.
This is of course retaliation to Epic's actions, but courts don't look upon that kindly. This move is especially stupid because 1) Apple is now directly causing harm to their own customers who are using Sign in with Apple to access their Epic account (since all Sign in with Apple accounts have at least one Apple device), and 2) this is causing the small proportion of Epic's customers who use Sign in with Apple to be out of pocket, but almost all of Apple's customers who use Fortnite and Sign in with Apple to be out of pocket, and 3) Apple is harming a third party (Epic's customers) and if they lose these lawsuits, they would be required to compensate Epic for loss of earnings from those they have locked out, plus they'd have to compensate Epic's customers for the loss of access and monetary loss that may have caused.
Apple's retaliation is causing customers of a third party to lose access to accounts they have spent money on, rather than just causing harm to Epic themselves - and some of Epic's customers who use Sign in with Apple may not even play Fortnite on the iPhone or iPad, dragging them into a dispute about something that has absolutely nothing to do with them. Courts don't like third parties being harmed through the actions of a first party so that combined with the retaliatory nature of this means Apple needs to tread very carefully here; lest they look like the big bully throwing its weight around just because they can, and resulting in them losing these cases entirely for the pigheadedness of attempting to cause further harm to Epic through retaliation. They should have taken the high ground and react no more than they have before this point, but this is like children fighting in a playground. Albeit very rich children.
Allow Epic back into the App Store(assuming they follow the rules), use the money made from Fortnite to fund a competitive game engine and 1st party games. That game makes enough damn money to at least fund half the project. Would be a blow to Epics face.