In a battle of the two Tims, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny will be examined extensively in court very soon over the Fortnite legal battle. The Fortnite controversy began last summer and caused instant bad blood between Apple and Epic, developer of the acclaimed battle royale game. The outcome of this battle could result in massive changes for the gaming and mobile industry.
In a sudden move last year, Epic announced it would be letting players buy Fortnite's V-Bucks currency at a discounted rate directly through its own website, rather than in-game, as a way to bypass Apple's 30% revenue cut. Apple quickly delisted Fortnite as a result, noting a breach of contractual agreements. The battle royale developer responded with a lawsuit, alleging anti-competitive conduct and claiming that Apple has created an illegal monopoly of the iOS App Distribution Market. The time has now come to actually go to in-person court for the matter.
Law360 (via VGC) reports that Sweeney will be examined for almost 8 hours and will likely talk about the relationship between Epic and Apple, Epic's business model, and more. Cook will be on the stand for roughly 2 hours, talking about the app store and its competitors likely as a result of insulation that the tech giant runs a monopoly. The witness list includes execs from a number of gaming companies that have worked with Epic on Fortnite including Xbox business development VP Lori Wright.
Given Epic's vocal nature against Apple, it seems likely Epic and its lawyers are well-prepared to fight this. Of course, Apple is one of the biggest companies in the world so it can afford some pretty top-notch legal teams too. It could really go either way, but at least initially, it seemed that Epic won the battle of the social media trial. Hashtags such as #FreeFortnite and #TeamEpic began trending on Twitter once the suit was filed.
Should Epic win this case, it could likely have major ramifications on not only Apple's App Store, but the gaming industry at large. Theoretically, it could result in far less strict rules from platform holders and/or reduced revenue cuts, which could in turn give developers more profit and even make some products cheaper in some cases. The Epic v Apple Fortnite in-person trial will be begin on May 3 and run for about 3 weeks. Whether or not this will result in Fortnite returning to the App Store remains to be seen, but the actual consequences of the case for either party will likely be rather substantial.