Two of the biggest tech giants have continued to fight tooth and nail. Now, Apple is revoking Epic Games’ employees from using its development tools.
Epic, the developers of Fortnite, issued a statement today regarding Apple’s latest move. Apple has informed Epic that its employees will be unable to use the developer tools present in both the iOS and Mac systems that’s used as an integral part of the testing and debugging stages of app design.
Epic retaliated with a court request soon after. The 197-page document, which is partly a temporary restraining order, calls for the court to block Apple’s actions. The first argument put forward by Epic suggested that it will suffer irreparable harm if the court doesn’t intervene.
Epic has argued that it requires access to the developer tools to update the game. “First, without the latest Fortnite version, existing iOS users are doomed to obsolescence within weeks; they will be unable to play Fortnite with most other players,” the documents read.
Epic also claims that without access to the developer tools, it will harm the development of Unreal Engine, which is dubbed as “the most powerful real-time 3D creation platform,” according to Epic.
This feud began on Aug. 13 after Epic announced that it’d implement a new payment method to allow customers to pay for in-game currency directly through Epic, rather than Apple, at a discounted price. Apple responded by removing Fortnite from the App Store soon after.
It’s clear that this issue has extended beyond Fortnite. What started as a small change in-game has spiraled into one of the biggest legal battles between two tech giants. It looks like this case is far from over.
