Epic Games Has Paid Over $100 Million in Legal Fees to Fight Apple's App Store Rules

[MacRumors]

It has cost Epic Games more than $100 million to challenge Apple's App Store rules in the ongoing Apple vs. Epic Games legal battle, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said today in an interview with Business Insider.

Sweeney said that Epic Games has paid "legal bills" in excess of $100 million, but that the dispute has cost the company a lot more.

But if you look at lost revenue, that's another story. We can't predict exactly how much we would have made on iOS, but in the two years that we were on the platform, Fortnite had made about $300 million on iOS. So you could have projected hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue as a result of the fight.

Sweeney went on to say that one could "easily imagine" that the total cost to Epic Games was a billion dollars or more based on lost revenue from iOS users, and lost revenue from people who didn't play because their friends on iOS weren't able to play.

While Epic Games largely lost its court case against Apple when a judge found that Apple did not have a monopoly, Epic Games scored a win because Apple was forced to drop its anti-steering App Store policies.

As part of the Epic Games vs. Apple legal battle, Apple was given an order to allow developers to direct customers to purchase options outside of the App Store. Apple was able to put off implementing the functionality for several years, but in 2024, did so in a way that still involved fees.

Just last week, the judge overseeing the Apple vs. Epic Games legal fight said that Apple was in contempt of court for failing to properly comply with the injunction. Apple was ordered to immediately implement new U.S. App Store rules allowing developers to add links to external websites where customers can make purchases. Apple is not allowed to collect commissions for purchases made using these links, nor can it control the look of the links or buttons that developers use.

Apple is appealing the decision, but in the meantime, it's a win for developers, and a win that was funded by Epic Games. Sweeney said last week that Epic Games would be bringing Fortnite back to the iOS App Store in the U.S. as a result of the ruling, and in the interview with Business Insider, he said that Fortnite would be taking advantage of Apple's new policies "later this week."

Apple banned Epic Games' U.S. developer account, but the company has an account in Sweden that it will use to bring Fortnite back to the U.S. App Store. Sweeney said that he would be "very surprised" if Apple "decided to brave the geopolitical storm of blocking a major app from iOS." He confirmed that Epic Games has informed Apple of what its plans are, so Apple is presumably aware that Fortnite will soon be submitted to the U.S. App Store.

Later this year, Epic Games also plans to launch Epic Games Store Webshops, a feature that will let developers launch digital storefronts that are hosted by the Epic Games Store. Webshops will be free for developers making under $1 million annually per app, and for bigger developers, Epic will collect a 12 percent fee.

Article Link: Epic Games Has Paid Over $100 Million in Legal Fees to Fight Apple's App Store Rules

 

[Lone Deranger]

Pocket change for Sweeney and his China based overlords.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

As a developer (and user) I'm grateful for Sweeney's efforts. It's a shame Apple can't accept the decision and continue to behave like a petulant child throwing a tantrum.

 

[Art Mark]

Likely will be reversed. The lack of monopoly makes this a curious place for government intervention. What's next, the X-Box store? Playstation?

 

[djphat2000]

As a developer (and user) I'm grateful for Sweeney's efforts. It's a shame Apple can't accept the decision and continue to behave like a petulant child throwing a tantrum.

So as a developer. You think it's best for his company to lose a billion dollars in revenue that could be used to hire more developers and research & develop MORE games, tools, etc?

I personally don't know when losing a billion dollars was pocket changes. I must be living in high inflationary times...
😨

 

[venom600]

Likely will be reversed. The lack of monopoly makes this a curious place for government intervention. What's next, the X-Box store? Playstation?

Lack of monopoly? They literally monopolized payment methods and made it impossible to circumvent. And yes, I hope this extends to every walled garden store out there.

So as a developer. You think it's best for his company to lose a billion dollars in revenue that could be used to hire more developers and research & developers MORE games, tools, etc?

I personally don't know when losing a billion dollars was pocket changes. I must be living in high inflationary times...
😨

It's a big picture decision. You spend some now to make a lot more later.

 

[djphat2000]

I would have also hoped he would mention all the end users that had nothing to do with his losing crusade. That could no longer play Fortnite just for the laughs at least. Many of whom may not come back.

 

[MrSkoTA]

and will take them 100 years to make that up!

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

So as a developer. You think it's best for his company to lose a billion dollars in revenue that could be used to hire more developers and research & developers MORE games, tools, etc?

I personally don't know when losing a billion dollars was pocket changes. I must be living in high inflationary times...
😨

Yeah. Allowing monopolists to use their market position to stifle competition is never going to be good for tech jobs in the long term.

 

[zahuh]

All every developer and creator can say is THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU we will use the money to make more great apps!

 

[Rafagon]

Aww poor Epic.

Go start a GoFundMe.

 

[jz0309]

Lack of monopoly? They literally monopolized payment methods and made it impossible to circumvent. And yes, I hope this extends to every walled garden store out there.



It's a big picture decision. You spend some now to make a lot more later.

see quote below - Apple has not been found to be a monopoly, simple as that.
What you think does not matter in this instance ...

While Epic Games largely lost its court case against Apple when a judge found that Apple did not have a monopoly,

 

[xander49x]

and I hope Epic games pay hundreds of millions of dollars more in court fees, I will never play any of epic games, ever.
#boycottepicgames #timsweeneyLoser

 

[AppliedMicro]

I‘ve said it before: Sweeney isn‘t only in it for the money.
The guy‘s on a mission and fighting this (at least partly) out of some intrinsic motivation.

 

[djphat2000]

Yeah. Allowing monopolists to use their market position to stifle competition is never going to be good for tech jobs in the long term.

It's not a monopoly. That was clearly determined by the same judge.
Sweeny's words, not mine. He states EPIC could have lost out on a billion dollars in revenue from not being on iOS.
IMHO, THAT is not good for tech jobs. What other game on the mac or iOS could gamble on missing out on a billion dollars?

 

[frownface]

I dont really have any empathy for sweeny, epic games or fortnite.
But it's undeniable that while epic lost the battle, apple lost the war.

The domino effect of what tim and epic have done has led to a seemingly endless string of antitrust suits brought against apple by many corporations and countries.
I think if given a do-over, apple probably would've done a backdoor deal with epic.

 

[Unity451]

But they won... that's got to feel good...?

 

[MysteriousStain]

Not a fun time in the boardroom at Apple these days

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

It's not a monopoly. That was clearly determined by the same judge.
Sweeny's words, not mine. He states EPIC could have lost out on a billion dollars in revenue from not being on iOS.
IMHO, THAT is not good for tech jobs. What other game on the mac or iOS could gamble on missing out on a billion dollars?

Whatever. Their behaviour is anticompetitive.

Epic is one company, do you think they would've been employing every engineer in the world had they not pursued this action?

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

I dont really have any empathy for sweeny, epic games or fortnite.
But it's undeniable that while epic lost the battle, apple lost the war.

The domino effect of what tim and epic have done has led to a seemingly endless string of antitrust suits brought against apple by many corporations and countries.
I think if given a do-over, apple probably would've done a backdoor deal with epic.

The Spotify stuff did for Apple aswell.

 

[frownface]

The Spotify stuff did for Apple aswell.

Sure, but spotify had been "playing ball" for years by that stage, having an app with no links or payment options.

If they were first to brazenly break the rules, get booted out and then bring attention to their plight to the world then sure. Ultimately, epic games will go down in history as the pariah who cracked that first brick in the walled garden.

I don't play fortnite so i am pretty indifferent to them; but i'm pretty sure that years from now the epic v apple suit will be studied in business schools everywhere.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Sure, but spotify had been "playing ball" for years by that stage, having an app with no links or payment options.

If they were first to brazenly break the rules, get booted out and then bring attention to their plight to the world then sure. Ultimately, epic games will go down in history as the pariah who cracked that first brick in the walled garden.

I don't play fortnite so i am pretty indifferent to them; but i'm pretty sure that years from now the epic v apple suit will be studied in business schools everywhere.

Spotify's complaint led to the first regulatory investigation into the App Store. The EU antitrust investigation started before Epic filed suit against Apple.

 

[mejsric]

Yeah. Allowing monopolists to use their market position to stifle competition is never going to be good for tech jobs in the long term.

define Monopoly.

 

[djphat2000]

I‘ve said it before: Sweeney isn‘t only in it for the money.
The guy‘s on a mission and fighting this (at least partly) out of some intrinsic motivation.

Everyone, even the most purest truest, kindest CEO's.. Have to answer to shareholders.
Unless he owns the lion "share" or has board members that are TOTALLY on his side.

This was, is and continues to be a bad business move. He bet big on winning. Had he won, EPIC stood to gain. The savings from the 30% cut (over time) could have been made up the costs for the legal fees "IF", it was won relatively quickly. Especially, in the US. But he mostly lost in the US, even if you count the victory for putting links in the App Store or app to pay directly with the vendor. The cost to get people back??? IDK if you can get them back, since it has been awhile.
He had pole position with Apple. Keynotes, and great demos to show the world how good Apple hardware was. Year in and year out. And EARLY. He literally burnt that.

I remember playing Unreal, and Unreal Tournament on my Mac in the late 90's and early 2000's. Between that and Quake 3, IV (Id), Star Trek Elite Force. Oni, Halo (BUNGIE!!). I had plenty of fun on a computer never really built for gaming. But, I preferred MacOS and Mac Pro's over any intel PC running Windows.
What Sweeny did was literally a kick in the balls as far as I'm concerned. He cared not for the end user that could no longer play the cool games EPIC made. And let's face it. It's not like games are ANY CHEAPER. Yes, Fortnite is free to play. But, he literally saw fit to ruin that for even the Mac desktop users. And still lost out on a billion dollars for his troubles.

I personally don't view that as a good thing. But, that's me.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

So as a developer. You think it's best for his company to lose a billion dollars in revenue that could be used to hire more developers and research & develop MORE games, tools, etc?

I personally don't know when losing a billion dollars was pocket changes. I must be living in high inflationary times...
😨

That's either a fantastic rage-bait comment or extremely ignorant, it's clever enough that I can't tell. This decision benefits (virtually) the whole industry, not just Epic. Tim fought this for his own benefit but also on behalf of every developer that doesn't have the money to fight Apple.