Epic Games says Apple stalling launch of its game store in Europe

(Reuters) -“Fortnite” maker Epic Games said on Friday that Apple was impeding its attempts to set up a games store on iPhones and iPads in Europe, the latest escalation in a bitter feud over the technology giant’s control of the iOS app ecosystem.

Apple has twice rejected documents the video-game publisher submitted to launch the Epic Games Store because the design of certain buttons and labels was similar to those used by its App Store, Epic said.

“We are using the same “Install” and “In-app purchases” naming conventions that are used across popular app stores on multiple platforms, and are following standard conventions for buttons in iOS apps,” Epic said in a series of posts on X.

“Apple’s rejection is arbitrary, obstructive, and in violation of the DMA (Digital Markets Act), and we’ve shared our concerns with the European Commission,” it said.

Apple said it was working with Epic to resolve the issue and launch its games marketplace. The European Commission declined to comment.

Epic and Apple have been embroiled in a legal battle since 2020, when the gaming firm alleged that Apple’s practice of charging up to 30% commissions on in-app payments on its iPhone Operating System (iOS) devices violated U.S. antitrust rules.

Early this year, Apple proposed changes to its App Store policies to comply with certain directives of the DMA that went into force in March.

It allowed alternative app stores on iPhones and an opt-out from using the in-app payments system, but set a “core technology fee”, which several developers found exploitative.

Last month, EU antitrust regulators said Apple’s revised terms failed to meet the standards set in the DMA, and launched another investigation over its new contract requirements for app developers and stores.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik, Aditya Soni and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shounak Dasgupta)