Between 2018 and 2020, Fortnite generated about $300 million on iOS alone. Epic estimates the total losses from the dispute, including lost user engagement and other indirect impacts, could exceed $1 billion.
“You could have projected hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue,” Sweeney added. “One could easily imagine that the total cost to Epic Games was a billion dollars or more.”
Despite these losses, Sweeney views the battle as a necessary stand against monopolistic practices:
“If you have one monopoly gatekeeper who dictates what people are allowed to play, see, hear — and takes exorbitant fees from every transaction… we’re going to have a much less free world than the one that we grew up in.”
Apple’s Contempt Ruling and Appeal
Just last week, the court ruled that Apple must immediately allow U.S. developers to add external purchase links in their apps.
Apple is forbidden from charging commissions on those external transactions and cannot control the design of the links or buttons developers choose.
