Epic Games CEO reveals the truth after Apple terminate company's developer accounts

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny says Apple had a choice and it was not made compulsory to remove the developer accounts. The iPhone maker, however, chose to terminate the accounts.

Fortnite (Bloomberg)

Just hours ago we saw Apple announcing that it is terminating the developer accounts of Epic Games on the App Store. This means no more updates to Fortnite for the foreseeable future. This decision, as mentioned by Apple, came from the court. But Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny says Apple had a choice and it was not made compulsory to remove the developer accounts. The iPhone maker, however, chose to terminate the accounts.

“Apple's statement isn't forthright. They chose to terminate Epic's account; they didn't have to,” tweeted Sweeny as a reply to 9to5 mac's story post. He even mentioned that Apple suggests we spammed the App Store review process. That's not so.

Apparently, Epic Games submitted three builds of Fortnite. While two of them included bug fixes, the third one was the Season 4 update with a note. The note clearly mentioned that Fortnite build v14.0 was uploaded through the App Store Connect and the particular build offers customers in-app purchases through either Apple's payment solution or through Epic direct payment. “Epic is submitting this version in case Apple wishes to restore Fortnite to the App Store in time for Season 4 launch.”

Apple's statement isn't forthright. They chose to terminate Epic's account; they didn't *have* to.

Apple suggests we spammed the App Store review process. That's not so. Epic submitted three Fortnite builds: two bug-fix updates, and the Season 4 update with this note. pic.twitter.com/VpWEERDp5L

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) August 28, 2020

Apple, however, is yet to give a statement on this matter.

For now, Apple has just announced the termination of Epic Games' developer account. It has even mentioned that what Epic does is not fair to other developers. It has even expressed to work together in future.

Here's the full statement:

“We are disappointed that we have to terminate the Epic Games account on the App Store. We have worked with the team at Epic Games for many years on their launches and releases. The court recommended that Epic comply with the App Store guidelines while their case moves forward, guidelines they've followed for the past decade until they created this situation. Epic has refused. Instead they repeatedly submit Fortnite updates designed to violate the guidelines of the App Store. This is not fair to all other developers on the App Store and is putting customers in the middle of their fight. We hope that we can work together again in the future, but unfortunately that is not possible today.”