Apple Blocks Epic's European App Store Launch Amid Legal Battle Over iOS Competition
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Apple blocked Epic Games from launching its own app store in Europe, escalating their ongoing legal feud that started in 2020 over Apple's App Store fees and policies.
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Apple's actions come as it faces regulatory threats in Europe - a new Digital Markets Act takes effect this week forcing Apple to allow third-party app stores.
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Apple was recently fined $2 billion by EU antitrust regulators over anti-competitive App Store restrictions on music streaming competitors.
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Epic was trying to leverage the Digital Markets Act to bring Fortnite back to iPhones in Europe with its own game store, but Apple terminated Epic's new developer account.
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Apple says it has discretion to terminate Epic's accounts given its "egregious" past breaches of contract, but Epic alleges Apple is trying to block competition on iOS.