It took more than four years, but Epic Games finally prevailed this week in its antitrust case against Apple, the world’s most valuable company with a market value of $3.2 trillion. And now it’s possible that the floodgates are open to bring competition and financial gains for mobile game companies on iOS.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and his lawyers argued that Apple was a bully that was striking fear in the hearts of mobile game makers by punishing Epic in forcing Fortnite off the App Store. It also accused Apple of “malicious compliance” as the iPhone maker resisted regulatory measures in the European Union. For the most part, Apple was successful in blocking Epic Games in court and delaying the one favorable ruling that Epic got.
But that changed this week as U.S. District Court judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers held that Apple failed to comply with her ruling in 2021 and so it was in contempt of court for “willful violation” of her ruling, which found Apple blameless on nine of 10 big antitrust allegations. This ruling involves the one that Epic won — an order saying it was not OK for Apple to prohibit game makers from steering users to off-store websites for item purchases at lower prices. The judge felt this Apple rule stifled competition and harmed consumers, who had to pay higher prices due to Apple’s 30% take on all App Store item sales.
“Effective immediately Apple will no longer impede developers’ ability to communicate w …