Apple punishes Epic Games over spicy social media comments, closes Epic developer account before EGS store launches on iOS

Apple and Epic Games have long been waging a very public war, with a long back and forth between the two involving lawsuits, developer account shut-downs, and more than a few angry social media posts from Epic Games's CEO, Tim Sweeney.

However, it appears as though Tim Sweeney's latest volley was the last straw for Apple, as the tech giant has shut down the game developer's Apple developer account, preventing it from publishing any software on Apple's App Store for the foreseeable future.

The Tim Sweeney post in question heavily criticised Apple's App Store and digital payment policies, calling them monopolistic and implying that Apple is acting in an anticompetitive manner.

Apple leadership faces some massive decisions in the coming weeks as the contradictions between their stated principles and the intended and actual consequences of their present policies are reckoned with: the app store monopoly, the digital goods payments monopoly, the tax, the suppression of true information about competing purchasing options, the blocking of competing web browser engines and outright destruction of web apps. It doesn’t have to be this way. Apple is a few bold and visionary decisions away from being the company they once were and that they still advertise themselves to be: beloved brand to consumers, partner to developers, and overlord to none. – Tim Sweeney on X (formerly Twitter).

In a statement from Epic Games after the fact, email screenshots confirmed that Apple cites the post as one reason for the termination, elaborating that Tim Sweeney's "curt responses" to an inquiry as to why Epic Games should be trusted.

Apple declining to grant Epic Games a developer account means that Epic Games will not be able to publish the Epic Games store on iOS, as it had planned. 

Additionally, in one of the emails to Epic Games, Apple said that it is "fiercely committed to protecting the integrity of the iOS platform, as well as its intellectual property," implying that allowing Epic Games to have an alternative app marketplace, as is enforced by the EU's DMA (Digital Markets Act), would somehow present a threat to Apple's or its users' security or intellectual property.

It remains to be seen whether Epic Games or Apple plan on taking this further, but it would not be surprising to the two get into another heated legal situation as a result of these actions.

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