After months of two tech titans throwing down in a courtroom, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers made her ruling on Friday morning.
In an antitrust lawsuit brought on by Epic Games, the company behind the global phenomenon Fortnite, they argued that Apple created an unfair monopoly that put a stranglehold on games and apps distributed through their digital store.
Rogers ruling states that, Apple are "hereby permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing and communicating with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration within the app."
Apple is expected to appeal the decision and made the following statement:
In layman's terms, individuals who make in-app purchases through iOS applications found in Apple's store must have the option available to them to use payment options outside of the tech giant. For example, if an individual wants to buy a new skin for their character in Fortnite while playing on their mobile device, Apple must provide players the opportunity to make the purchase through Epic Game's store, opposed to just through Apple.
Despite Epic Games receiving revenue from the purchase made through Apple's store, the game developer is forced to pay a 30% fee for using the latter's their storefront.
Tim Sweeney, the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Epic Games took to Twitter to give his two-cents on the decision and respond to Apple's post-ruling statement.
The ruling is scheduled to go into effect on December 9, unless an appeal from Apple pushes that date further down the road.
Apple removed Fortnite from the company's iOS store in August of last year due to Epic Games implementing an in-app payment system that allowed players to bypass paying the 30% fee.
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Tim Rizzo is the editor and a reporter for Inven Global. He joined the company back in 2017.
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