Epic Games Seeks Injunction Against Apple Over Threat Of Cutting Its Access To Key Developer Tools

Epic Games Inc. filed for injunctive relief against Apple Inc. AAPL Monday in the United States District Court for California’s Northern District, after the Cupertino-based technology giant apparently moved to terminate its developer accounts.

What Happened

The maker of games such as “Fortnite” and “Unreal” claimed in the motion, the iPhone maker has informed the company that all of its developer accounts will be terminated on Aug. 28. Its access to crucial iOS and Mac development tools, including the Unreal Engine, will also be cut. 

“When Epic gave users of its app Fortnite a choice of how they wanted to make purchases, Apple retaliated by removing Fortnite from its App Store," the company said in a statement. "Then when Epic sued Apple to break its monopoly on app stores and in-app payments, Apple retaliated ferociously.”

In the motion, Epic Games said the latest retaliation would hurt its business beyond Fortnite, which was the original point of contention between the two companies.

"Not content simply to remove Fortnite from the App Store, Apple is attacking Epic’s entire business in unrelated areas," the company added. "Epic is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims, but without an injunction, Epic will be irreparably harmed long before final judgment comes."

Why It Matters

The Wisconsin-based game developer sued both Apple and Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG last week after both companies removed its Fortnite game from their app stores.

Rebekah Valentine, a writer at Gameindustry.biz, said Epic knows that gamers can get angry and be “effectively weaponized” with the right hashtag.

Apple is the most valuable publicly-traded company with a market cap of $1.96 trillion.

Price Action

Apple shares traded 0.12% higher at $459 in the after-hours session.