Fortnite will not be returning to iOS in Japan next year “as promised” because, according to Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney, Apple has allegedly launched “another travesty of obstruction and lawbreaking”.
In a series of messages posted to X/Twitter, Sweeney explained that whilst Apple had been “required to open up iOS to competing stores”, it has instead introduced additional fees, including a 21% “junk fee” on third-party in-app payments, 15% for purchases made on the web, and a “new 5% junk fee on all revenue from apps distributed by competing stores”.
Apple announced earlier this week that it would be making changes to iOS in Japan, including new options for developers to distribute apps and process payments, acknowledging that the changes have been implemented to comply with the Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA).
“Sadly, Fortnite will not return to iOS in Japan in 2025 as promised,” CEO Sweeney wrote. “Apple was required to open up iOS to competing stores [on 18th December], and instead of doing so honestly, they have launched another travesty of obstruction and lawbreaking in gross disrespect to the government and people of Japan.
“Apple chose poorly. Again.”
In a follow-up tweet, he added: “They’re charging a competition-crushing 21% junk fee on third-party in-app payments, and 15% for purchases made on the web (a practice the US District Court already found to be illegal in the contempt of court proceeding that Apple lost and the 9th Circuit Court upheld).” He then linked to a page on Apple’s website.
“They’re introducing new anticompetitive warning screens meant to mislead customers into believing their privacy and financial security are at risk when dealing with Apple competitors. They’re imposing a new 5% junk fee on all revenue from apps distributed by competing stores, and intend to surveil all transactions within them using a mandatory reporting API.”
He closed on calling the changes “an egregious Apple imposition on distribution and payments they have no involvement with, and a practice the US courts already found to be illegal and upheld on appeal”.
“Obviously, real competition won’t happen, and consumers won’t benefit, when Apple abuses its position between users and competitors to obstruct honest dealing between them,” Sweeney concluded. “This is another sad day in the history of relationships between platform makers, developers, and consumers, and we will be raising our complaints with the Japanese Fair Trade Commission.”
It’s the latest in the five-year feud between Apple and Epic Games, when the Fortnite maker deliberately added a cheaper payment option to its battle royale that circumvented Apple’s own method, from which it then takes a 30 percent cut. The case has rumbled on since, but has rarely felt quite as dramatic as in the 80-page verdict slapped down on Apple in May by the US District Court of Northern California, which found the iPhone maker “in wilful violation” of the court’s previous injuction designed to prohibit the company’s “anticompetitive conduct and anticompetitive pricing”.
Sweeney has previously stated that Epic Games had lost around $1bn in missed revenue over the run of the case.
