The Epic Games Store and Fortnite will come back to iOS in Australia, thanks to a ruling from an Australian court.
The court, which has been ajudicating the Epic Games lawsuit since 2020, just found that Apple and Google abused their control over app distribution and in-app payments to limit competition.
There are 2,000+ pages of findings that Epic said it will need to dig into to fully understand the details. “This is a WIN for developers and consumers in Australia!” Epic said in a tweet.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Google said, ““The court today recognized the stark difference between Android’s open platform and Apple’s closed system, affirming that Android gives Australian consumers and developers significantly more choice and flexibility, including through multiple app distribution options beyond Google Play.” “
Google also said, “We welcome the court’s rejection of Epic’s demands that we distribute app stores from within the Google Play store, and Epic’s attacks on other critical security protections that users rely on. However, we disagree with the court’s characterization of our billing policies and practices, as well as its findings regarding some of our historical partnerships, which were all shaped in a fiercely competitive mobile landscape on behalf of users and developers. We will review the full decision when we receive it and assess our next steps.”
The victory adds to a string of antitrust wins for Epic Games against both Google and Apple over their decision to boot Fortnite from their app stores after Epic violated store rules by directing users to its cheaper off-store website and then initiating litigation. Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, tweeted the following: