The Australian Federal Court has decided that the Epic Games vs. Apple case will now be heard in Australia.
The everlasting journey of Epic vs. Apple has been ongoing since late 2020 when Apple removed Fortnite from the Apple App Store. The reason? Epic started allowing players to purchase in-game currency directly from their mobile apps on both iOS and Android.
Because of this change, Epic basically removed the 30 per cent commission Apple would receive from in-app purchases. To encourage this, Epic teased the idea by offering a 20 per cent discount when paying Epic directly. Clearly, Apple (and Google too) didn't like this.
Epic responded to the removal by filing lawsuits against Apple and Google for what they described as “anti-competitive behaviour” and is currently ongoing in the U.S.
Three months later, Epic also sued Apple in Australia under the same reasoning. However, come April the Federal Court suspended the Apple and Epic case in Australia after the parties came to an agreement for the legal proceedings to continue in the Northern District of California.
Epic has appealed this decision as they believe that decisions that impact Australian consumers should be decided within Australia, and the ACCC agreed, due to the case being about Australian consumer law.
On Friday Epic won this appeal in the Federal Court, which means that this case will be heard in Australia.
Epic Games is pleased that our case will proceed with the Federal Court and be examined in the context of Australian laws
Epic Games spokesperson (source: Gizmodo)
The date of the next hearing hasn't been set yet, but we'll be sure to let you know when it does.
