Epic Games Challenges Mobile App Store Policies

Epic Games deliberately bypassed Apple’s in-app payment system in Fortnite in August 2020, prompting Apple and Google to remove the game from their stores. Epic immediately filed lawsuits challenging platform rules and commission structures.

The dispute centered on technical control as well as economics. On iOS, ordinary consumer applications could be installed only through Apple’s App Store, and digital purchases generally had to use Apple’s payment system. Apple argued that centralized distribution supported security and privacy; Epic argued that it gave Apple excessive control over software markets.

The conflict became a major test of the app-store model created in 2008. Court rulings and later regulation in several regions forced platform owners to reconsider alternative payments, sideloading, and the boundary between operating-system security and marketplace control.