November 2024
Supplement
HBS Case Collection

Epic Games: Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite (B)

By: Andy Wu and Ronald Wang

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:4

Abstract

In a significant ruling on April 24, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld portions of the district court’s decision against Epic Games back in September 2021. However, Apple’s anti-steering provisions, which restricted app developers from including links that directed users to external payment platforms, were ruled unfair under the Sherman Antitrust Act and California’s Competition Law.1 Both Epic and Apple sought to appeal this decision,2 but the Supreme Court declined to take the case.3 Apple changed its App Store policies to comply with the ruling: it now permits developers to link to external payment sites while charging a reduced general fee of 27% or 12% for developers in the App Store Small Business Program, compared to the previous 30%.4 Epic claimed that Apple’s new payment structure still violated the court order.