Epic CEO: Apple has lost all sight of the tech industry's founding principles

Free Fortnite (Image credit: Epic Games)

What you need to know

Apple seeks damages relating to Epic's breach of contract by circumventing the App Store's IAP system.
Apple says Epic's lawsuit is a "disagreement over money".
Epic's CEO has hit back.

It's all kicking off between Apple and Epic again, with the latter's CEO taking to Twitter to accuse the former of losing "all sight of the tech industry's founding principles".

This came after Apple sought damages for breach of contract. The move came after Fortnite added an in-app purchase system that bypassed the App Store last month. It's been a constant legal spat ever since, with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney taking exception to the latest claims coming out of Cupertino.

Presumably they're just posturing for the court, but if Apple truly believes the fight over the App Store's distribution and payment monopoly is a "basic disagreement over money," then they've lost all sight of the tech industry's founding principles.https://t.co/349RHLqKYaPresumably they're just posturing for the court, but if Apple truly believes the fight over the App Store's distribution and payment monopoly is a "basic disagreement over money," then they've lost all sight of the tech industry's founding principles.https://t.co/349RHLqKYa— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 9, 2020 September 9, 2020

Sweeney linked to an Engadget piece that quoted Apple saying that Epic's lawsuit was "nothing more than a basic disagreement over money". Sweeney disagrees.

″Epic's lawsuit is nothing more than a basic disagreement over money," the tech giant said in its filing with the District Court of the Northern District of California. "Although Epic portrays itself as a modern corporate Robin Hood, in reality it is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that simply wants to pay nothing for the tremendous value it derives from the App Store." Apple revealed in the filing that Epic has made more than $600 million from the App Store.

In fairness to the Epic CEO, he has been making a point of late that Epic is doing this for all developers, not just the multi-billion dollar company he works for.

Whether that's actually the case or not, it's clear the relationship between Epic/Sweeney and Apple is done at this point. Epic has been on-stage at Apple media events – that's probably not happening again any time soon!

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.