WASHINGTON (AFP) – Apple on Friday reversed course and allowed Epic Games to develop a competing iPhone app store in Europe, after a feud between the two companies put new laws governing the continent’s tech giants to the test. became.
Publication of: change:
1 minute
“After discussions with Epic, Epic has committed to following the rules, including the DMA policy,” an Apple spokesperson said in an email to AFP.
“As a result, Epic Sweden AB has been permitted to re-sign the developer agreement and be admitted to the Apple Developer Program,” the spokesperson added.
Apple was referring to the Digital Markets Act. It’s a landmark European law that came into effect on Thursday and orders the world’s biggest technology companies to open their platforms to competition.
Six large companies designated as “gatekeepers” had until the end of Thursday to comply with strict new DMA rules.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney called the restructuring “a huge victory for the rule of law in Europe, the European Commission, and the freedom of developers around the world to have a voice.”
The Fortnite maker told the EU Commission earlier this week that its efforts to build an app store for the video game empire have been rejected by Apple.
Specifically, Apple on March 2 closed the developer account of Epic, a Sweden-based company that can build the software needed to launch standalone stores on Apple devices in Europe.
Sweeney likened Apple’s actions to a “big name setting up a castle in the skull of a former enemy” to “dissuade others from speaking out.”
Epic Games has been the subject of scrutiny from Apple and Google for years over access to their app stores.
The game maker has asked courts and regulators to force Apple and Google to open up its iPhone and Android devices to competing app stores and stop charging high fees for purchases on the devices.
These demands were included in a long list of “do’s” and “don’ts” for DMA gatekeepers that came into force on Thursday.
“We are pleased that, after hearing from us, Apple has decided to reverse its decision regarding Epic’s exclusion. From the second day, #DMA is already showing very concrete results! ” said Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market.
© 2024 AFP
