Apple is claiming a "resounding victory" against Epic Games over an antitrust lawsuit started by the latter.
Earlier this week, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2021 ruling in Epic Games' antitrust lawsuit against Apple (thanks, Eurogamer). The ruling that's been upheld is the one that stated in nine cases out of 10, Epic failed to prove Apple held a majority that would fall afoul of antitrust laws, and so chiefly siding with Apple over Epic Games.
However, that one case out of the 10 that the judge did side with Epic Games in was over payment methods. The judge ruled Apple couldn't block developers linking out to third-party payment methods on iOS devices, which was sort of what kicked off the whole debacle when Epic attempted to circumvent the Apple Store's payment methods and thus skip their 30% fee on app payments.
Now, a judge has upheld the original ruling from back in 2021. This is what's being trumpeted as a "resounding victory in this case" for Apple, as an Apple spokesperson told Eurogamer, clearly seeing the ruling as a win. "For the second time in two years, a federal court has ruled that Apple abides by antitrust laws at the state and federal levels," the spokesperson continued.
"We respectfully disagree with the court's ruling on the one remaining claim under state law and are considering further review," Apple concluded. This means Apple could potentially further appeal the judge's one ruling on third-party payment methods, so we could yet see the whole antitrust lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games dragged on further.
In response to the new ruling, Epic praised the "positive decision" regarding the court requiring Apple to let developers use third-party payment methods. "We're working on next steps," Epic added, alluding to further developments in the antitrust lawsuit.
Fortnite was pulled from the Apple App Store back in 2020, but earlier this year in 2023, Epic announced existing Fortnite users on iOS devices would no longer be able to spend their existing V-Bucks. Considering the iOS version of Fortnite hasn't been updated since August 2020, this made a subpar version of the battle royale shooter somehow worse.
Check out our Fortnite Lantern Puzzles guide if you're looking to complete one of the trickier current challenges in the game.
