Apple’s legal battle with Epic Games is continuing. During the second day of the trial, Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney resumed his testimony versus Apple.
Epic Games’ CEO was grilled by Apple’s lawyers and made several points seemingly favorable to Apple. Sweeney said he prefers Apple’s iPhone and values Apple’s privacy policies that he’s aiming to dismantle. Notably, the CEO confirmed that Apple’s 30% cut is also the most prevalent rate that other platforms charge.
Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo all take a 30% cut from Epic Games on their platforms and require their in-app purchase systems to be used. Still, according to Sweeney Epic is not challenging them because he believes in the idea of subsidized hardware. Moreover, he admitted that iPhone and iOS development is “very similar.”
Sweeney announced that Epic Games has a history of bullying platform makers. Epic Games pushed Sony into allowing cross-platform play. However, Sony ultimately got the upper hand and required additional payment to enable cross-platform capabilities. In the iOS case, cross-platform play is free.
The Legal Fight Between Apple and Epic Will Resume for Three Weeks
In 2015, Sweeney started trying to convince Apple to make the App Store an open platform and email Tim Cook.
However, when he got Sweeney’s initial email, he didn’t know who Sweeney was.
According to Sweeney, he would have accepted a special deal from Apple for a lower App Store commission. It seems to weaken Epic’s argument that its decision to kick off a legal battle with Apple and serve all developers.
Sweeney also spoke about what he would do if Epic Games loses the case. He said that Apple would be able to cut off Fortnite and remove Epic Games from the developer program for any reason.
The legal fight between Apple and Epic will resume for three weeks, with Apple executives set to testify during the third week.
