San Francisco, April 9 2021: A legal battle is afoot between games developer Epic Games and Apple. The legal proceedings started after Apple pulled Epic’s game Fornite from the App store after Epic released an update for the app that dodged revenue sharing with Apple. According to Apple, the demand was dwindling for the app.

Epic Games and Apple dueled in legal filings ahead of a trial over whether to break the iPhone maker’s tight grip on the App Store. Epic, the maker of the massively popular Fortnite game, accused Apple of trapping people in its mobile device world and collecting “outsized commission” at the App Store that serves as the only source of digital content.

Epic filed the complaint saying, “Apple constructed the iOS ecosystem, using a combination of technical and contractual means, to restrict distribution of iOS apps, foreclosing competition, harming the competitive process, and harming consumers.” Epic has called the Apple’s commission “Apple Tax”.

According to Statista, consumers spent $70.3 billion at the App Store last year alone. Apple’s commission on App Store transactions ranges from 15 percent to 30 percent. Apple maintains that the commission is standard for the market, and is warranted given the company’s investments in security, privacy and innovation.

The tech titan said Epic has benefited from the iOS ecosystem with some 130 million downloads earning them more than half a billion dollars.

The legal battle comes with Apple and other tech giants facing increased scrutiny for their dominance in various economic sectors.

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