Fortnite Game maker Epic Games publicly lashed out at Apple on Friday, after the smartphone maker rejected its latest proposal for a rival App Store for iOS. The company said in X This rejection came after Apple argued that Epic’s app store design was too similar to its own.
This decision arises from Epic’s attempt to deliver an iOS version of the Epic Games Store last week, a move that would make it possible for iPhone and iPad users to download games to their devices without visiting Apple’s App Store.
“Apple’s rejection is arbitrary, obstructive, and violates the DMA (Digital Markets Act),” Epic said in a statement posted to X on Friday, adding that the company had already shared its concerns with the European Commission. Apple has rejected Epic’s submission for Game Store notarization (a process by which apps are submitted to the company for review) twice in the past week, Epic spokesperson Elka Looks told WIRED.
The case is part of a broader battle over who controls the apps available to hundreds of millions of people. In a blow to the mobile giant, Apple has been forced by the Digital Markets Act, a new EU regulation, to allow alternatives to its own app store on European iPhones and iPads from March.
“Apple has rejected our submission for notarization of the Epic Games Store twice, claiming that the design and position of Epic’s ‘Install’ button is too similar to Apple’s ‘Get’ button and that our ‘In-App Purchases’ label is too similar to the App Store’s ‘In-App Purchases’ label,” the company said.
Epic explained that its naming conventions mimicked Apple’s because it was “trying to build a store that mobile users could easily understand.” Apple did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
There is more than 100 million People who use Apple’s App Store in the EU will be able to download their apps from the Epic Games Store for the first time.
Lawmakers are eagerly awaiting that moment, arguing that tech giants are stifling competition by blocking rivals’ access to their users. “The launch of an alternative app store within Apple’s system would be strong evidence that the DMA can stimulate competition and thus reduce prices for consumers,” Andreas Schwab, a member of the European Parliament who helped negotiate the DMA, told WIRED.
Epic and Apple are longtime rivals. In 2020, Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple in California, arguing that the company’s control over the iOS market was “unreasonable and unlawful.” Apple emerged (largely) victorious in the case in the United States. But in Europe, Epic has become part of a vocal community of developers who are furious about the perceived power Apple’s App Store wields over their businesses and the commission the company charges on in-app purchases.
“Apple has app providers under its thumb like the mafia,” Matthias Pfau, CEO and co-founder of Tuta, an encrypted email provider, told WIRED earlier this year. Epic’s alternative app store proposal is a test case for the possibility of other alternative app stores emerging that could reconfigure the relationship between Apple and developers.
The Epic Games Store is already available on PC, Mac and Android, but not on Google Play. The company now plans to continue seeking approval for its iOS version, it said: “Unless Apple puts up further roadblocks, we remain prepared to launch on the Epic Games Store… on iOS in the EU in the coming months.”