Earlier today Epic Games announced that it had introduced a new direct payment option in the Fortnite app for iPhone and iPad, allowing players to purchase 1000 V-Bucks for US$7.99 rather than $9.99 through Apple’s in-app purchase mechanism.
Now The Hollywood Reporter says Apple has removed Fortnite from the App Store after the game’s owner introduced a new way to buy its virtual currency that circumvents the tech giant’s payment system.
“Currently, when using Apple and Google payment options, Apple and Google collect a 30 percent fee and the up to 20 percent price drop does not apply,” the company wrote in a blog post. “If Apple or Google lower their fees on payments in the future, Epic will pass along the savings to you.”
However, within hours of the introduction of Epic’s direct payment system, Fortnite was no longer available to download via the Apple App Store. The game, which launched in 2017, is free to play but offers upgrades and other special perks to players via in-app purchases.
Now Epic has filed a lawsuit against Apple in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint alleges that Apple has become a “behemoth seeking to control markets, block competition and stifle innovation,” and claims that the company’s size and reach “far exceeds that of any technology monopolist in history.”
