Online video game Fortnite, developed by Epic Games, is a huge gaming platform with a loyal fanbase behind them.

The post-apocalypse themed game had reached 100 million downloads on iOS devices within the first five months of its release in July 2017. By March 2019, the game went on to gather over 250 million players.

Suffice to say, Fortnite was one of the worthwhile apps for Apple too. But recent differences between Apple and Epic Games led both of them to make huge decisions against each other today. The 2 trillion dollar giant, Apple, banned Epic Games’ apps from the App Store, while Epic Games sued Apple.

Why and How Did it All Happen?

It is a known fact that Apple charges a 30 percent commission for every app purchased from the app store. The same policy applies to in-app purchases as well.

However, Epic Games’ online game Fortnite (a free-to-play game) generated most of its revenue from the in-app purchases of its virtual currency, V-Bucks. A thousand V-Bucks would cost you about ten US dollars.

And to avoid the 30 percent cut to Apple, the game platform opted to sell the virtual currency over at its website for a discount upon which Apple removed the game from the App Store for violating the terms of service.

In response to Apple’s removal of the game, Epic Games sued Apple in the North District of California court for violating the Sherman Act in mid-August 2020. The developers of the globally loved Fortnite accused Apple of creating a monopoly and antitrust issues.

The game developers added to their claim that Apple had restricted all its iOS-based applications to the App Store, and any sales or in-app purchases within those apps would grant Apple 30 percent commission off-the-top.

All of those activities by Apple was an act of monopoly because the developers are given no alternatives but to comply.

Upon facing such allegations, Apple did not just refuse to consider its stance but went on to remove the Fortnite app from the App Store altogether. In addition to that, Apple even moved to dismiss Epic’s access to its developer tools program, which would create a massive ripple throughout every app in Epic’s arsenal.

Epic Games’ Epic Response to Apple’s Ban

The creator of the post-apocalyptic online video game Fortnite, Epic Games, hosted a tournament named the ‘Free Fortnite Cup’ on August 23, 2020. And this cup wasn’t just a sporting event but a revolt against the monopoly of the Apple App Store.

Free Fortnite Banner With Tart Tycoon

Free Fortnite Banner With Tart Tycoon (Photo Source: Fortnite)

The fairly dramatic ‘Free Fortnite Cup’ was held for Fornite’s loyal users on the iOS platform. The players stuck on Chapter 2 - Season 3 during the tournament would jump into the Chapter 2 - Season 4 during the game’s new season launch on August 27.

The players who participated in this historic Fortnite tournament won a ton of outfits, swag, and hardware. The players who scored ten points won the ironic Tart Tycoon skin, and the top twenty thousand players globally won a FreeFortnite adjustable hat. The hats will get shipped to the winners in real life.

The heavy-hitters won the more exciting prizes. The top 1200 players received high-end gaming hardware—the prize list comprises of Alienware Gaming Laptops, Razer Gaming Laptops, Samsung Galaxy Tab S7, OnePlus 8, PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One X, and Nintendo Switch.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but all the prizes in this list were anti-Apple, along with the #FreeFortnite logo on the prize hat that was a mockery of the old Apple logo.

In addition to that, the new Tart Tycoon Outfit—main prize on offer—also mocked Apple, as the rotten Apple in the design hinted the corruption of a once-revolutionary business in the face of monopolistic greed.