Epic Appeals Judge’s Decision in Apple Trial

The Epic Games v. Apple saga might get a sequel: Epic has filed an appeal in the Ninth Circuit to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ ruling on Friday.

While the judge ruled that Apple engaged in anticompetitive behavior and must allow app developers to direct users to external stores and payment systems, the decision left much to be desired for Epic.

• Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Epic must pay damages to Apple equaling $3.65 million for 30% of revenue from Epic’s Direct Payment system on “Fortnite” for August to October 2020 — plus that same rate for Nov. 1 to Sept. 10.
• Apple was not required to restore “Fortnite” to the App Store. Apple removed the hit game after Epic created the alternate in-app payment method.
• Apple was not required to allow third-party app stores or lower its developer fees of 15% for companies with annual revenue under $1 million and 30% for everyone else.

Valued at $28.7 billion after a $1 billion funding round in April, Epic earned around $2.8 billion from “Fortnite” in 2020, and $828 million from all other sources.

While Gonzalez Rogers ruled that she could not make a determination whether or not Apple holds a monopoly in the $100 billion mobile gaming marketplace, she noted that Epic did not focus on that question.

An appeal could hone in on the mobile gaming market specifically, as opposed to the entire mobile app marketplace.