Apple threatens to terminate Epic Games' developer accounts in Fortnite dispute

The videogame maker says it will suffer "irreparable losses" without a temporary restraining order against Apple's move

Epic Games says that Apple is threatening to terminate its developer accounts and cut it off from iOS and Mac development tools on the 28^th August, in retaliation to Epic ' s legal challenge over developer payments.

According to the Washington Post, the videogame maker has asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order against Apple ' s move, saying it will suffer irreparable losses otherwise.

Tensions between Apple and Epic emerged last week, when the latter filed a lawsuit against Apple and Google over antitrust claims.

Last Thursday, Epic announced a direct payment plan for Fortnite users, offering them a 20 per cent discount to the Apple price for in-app purchases. The firm said that bypassing the 30 per cent tax to Apple and Google enabled it to lower costs for users.

Both Google and Apple described Epic ' s move as a breach of their developer guidelines and announced that they were dropping Fortnite from their app stores.

In response, Epic launched a lawsuit against both firms, saying it wanted a ruling from the court to change the way tech giants run their app stores.

In its motion on Monday, Epic CEO Timothy Sweeney wrote that Apple's move to cut off Epic from iOS and Mac development tools will prevent more than 350 million registered users of Fortnite from receiving the updates needed to play the game's most popular mode.

Sweeney said, "Apple's actions will 'break' Fortnite for millions of existing players."

"Because iOS users can no longer update the game, they will be unable to play Fortnite with most other players, who will have the then-current version available on other platforms [like PCs]."

In addition to making its own titles, Epic also creates tools for other game developers. For example, it is the developer of Unreal Engine, which millions of developers use to create 3D graphics in video games.

Without access to Apple ' s developer tools, Epic will not be able to develop future versions of Unreal Engine for iOS and Mac devices, meaning that all subsequent updates to such devices could make programmes running on the Engine unusable. Many developers will be forced to give up the Unreal Engine for other systems, as well.

"The cascading effect of losing ongoing Unreal Engine compatibility will threaten the viability of the engine and disrupt development of a constellation of apps and uses that rely on its graphics to render hundreds of video games, the human brain, Baby Yoda and space flight," the company wrote in the motion.

In addition to fighting the issue in the court, Epic is trying to mobilise millions of Fortnite users to reach out to Apple to demand a change in its policies.