The EU Commission demands “further explanations” from Cupertino on raging Apple/Epic quarrel

European officials are not letting go of Apple and are now summoning the Cupertino giant to give further explanations about its latest actions against Epic Games, maker of the incredibly popular game Fortnite (and Apple's sworn enemy).

“We have requested further explanation from Apple on this matter under the DMA (Digital Markets Act),” a European Commission spokesperson said in an email (via Reuters).

What the spokesperson means by “more explanation on this” is of course the fact that Apple has banned Epic Games from launching its own online marketplace on iPhones and iPads in Europe. EU officials want to determine whether this violates EU technology rules.

In 2020, Apple closed Epic's developer account in the United States and other markets after the company distributed its game Fortnite in the App Store with a link to the app's own in-app payment platform from Epic. In doing so, Fortnite escaped the Apple tax (the 15-30% commission Apple receives for processing in-app payments using its own platform), and Epic's actions therefore violated the App Store regulations.

Then came the lawsuit, and Apple had to make it easier for developers to link customers to third-party in-app payment platforms. However, Epic was not allowed to force Apple to install the Epic App Store on the iPhone. Apple extended an olive branch to Epic by offering the company a developer account in the EU thanks to changes made by the DMA (Digital Markets Act).

This European account was closed by Apple, citing Epic's past contract breaches in a long-running legal dispute. Epic says Apple is doing this simply to get back at his comments criticizing Apple.