Apple is threatening to terminate Epic Games’ developer account, meaning that it would be cut off from iOS, iPadOS, and macOS development tools, making future releases tougher.
Epic announced Apple’s threat on Twitter, and revealed that it was requesting a restraining order to prevent Apple from taking “adverse action against it.”
The order asks that the court will prevent Apple from removing or delisting Fortnite and other Epic Games’ titles.
Apple wrote to Epic Games to announce the termination, and it was included in the court filing: “Upon further review of the activity associated with your Apple Developer Program membership, we have identified several violations of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement.
“Therefore, your Apple Developer Program account will be terminated if the violations set forth below are not cured within 14 days.”
Apple plans to strip Epic Games of access to its software development tools which work across iOS, macOS, and iPadOS, meaning that the company’s Unreal Engine would no longer able to be developed on iOS.
Ultimately, this means that hundreds of iOS and macOS apps would be shuttered, or at least not receive updates due to Apple and Epic’s battle.
The news follows Apple and Google’s decisions to ban Epic Games’ Fortnite from the App Store and Play Store following developers’ decisions to bypass iOS and Android payment mechanisms.
Over recent months, Epic has become increasingly critical of Apple’s 30% ‘tax’ on App Store transactions and has even released a YouTube parody in response to it.
The battle continues. Stay tuned to AppleMagazine for the latest news on Epic Games.
