The trial between Epic Games and Apple ended yesterday. At the final four-hour meeting, the lawyers of both companies made their final arguments in the case. For example, about how the App Store monopoly looks in their eyes.
Epic Games Position
- Fortnite developers have acknowledged that the judge’s verdict will affect the entire mobile gaming industry. This will happen because Apple’s monopoly “concerns a very large number of users and developers, and has also been maintained for a long time.”According to Epic Games’ lawyers, Apple controls the entire iOS mobile app market.
- They pointed out that applications can only get to the platform through the App Store and in no other way.
- Epic Games also added that the App Store is the only store where there are games for the iPhone.
Apple’s position
- The Cupertino—based company said its goal is to “make the court understand what Epic is really asking for.” According to the lawyers, the changes proposed by Epic Games are “frightening” and can lead to many problems, including security on iOS. For example, if other stores appear on iOS, the platform will become a “bad imitation” of Google‘s Android.
- Apple claimed that its App Store actually competes with stores on other gaming devices, including consoles and PCs. The company noted that competition is taking place in the market of digital transactions in games, and this is broader than just the mobile market or the iOS application market.
- At the same time, Apple’s lawyers added that “it’s not the 90s now,” and people have several different devices at home. Therefore, it is not so important for players where exactly to play the same Fortnite — on a smartphone, console or PC. They also recalled that 80% of iOS users made purchases in the game on other platforms.
It is not yet known when the judge’s decision on this case will be ready. Last Friday, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers announced that she would try to catch up with them before August 13. But now she explained that it was just a joke, and explained that on this date it will be exactly one year from the beginning of the trial between Epic Games and Apple.
The judge noted that the examination of the testimony “will take some time”, since she needs to study 4,500 pages of documents. Her decision will be made public in writing.