That’s the tone Apple Inc has taken in its legal fight with Epic Games Inc, the maker ofFortnitebillboards in Times Square at its own expense, featured“in key keynote events” and promoted the battle-royale game in its App Store, the company said in filings this week. Apple sent more than 500 million marketing communications togamers and spent over US$1mil on social-media promotions.
The filings suggest Apple is trying to paint Epic as a pampered, ungrateful and pushy company, rather than one of thousands of developers struggling with a giant, bureaucratic technology platform. It’s the latest tactic in a battle that erupted between the two companies in August, when Epic launched a payment system that circumvented the Apple App Store and violated its rules.
Fortnite was booted out of the store. Epic sued Apple on Aug 13, alleging anti-competitive behaviour. Apple then countersued Epic and cut its developer access. The case puts a spotlight on Apple’s App Store business, which brings in billions of dollars a year. But it will be an expensive fight for Epic. Having lost access to the App Store, the game developer is already losing millions of dollars., but they accounted for a sizable contingent. Since first puttingon the iPhone, earning Epic more than US$550mil , according to Apple.
Epic didn’t return a request for comment on the filings. A judge has set a Sept 28 hearing on Epic’s request for injunction. – Bloomberg