Apple has signed off on the Epic Games Store in the European Union after the gaming company publicly complained that the tech giant had repeatedly rejected their application, which Epic Games said was a violation of E.U. law.
On Friday morning, the Epic Games Newsroom account posted on X, accusing Apple of rejecting the Epic Games Store notarization submission twice because of similarities to Apple’s own App Store. A few hours later, the account shared that the Epic Games Store submission had since been accepted.
The Epic Games Store is a virtual storefront for consumers to purchase various games, including Fortnite.
“Apple has rejected our Epic Games Store notarization submission twice now, claiming the design and position of Epic’s ‘Install’ button is too similar to Apple’s ‘Get’ button and that our ‘In-app purchases’ label is too similar to the App Store’s ‘In-App Purchases’ label,” the Epic Games Newsroom account originally posted.
The posts quickly went viral, receiving over 811,400 views and 5,000 likes.
In follow-up posts, the Epic Games account said that naming buttons “Install” and “In-app purchases” is the standard convention within the industry and that Apple was being “arbitrary, obstructive, and in violation” of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
“Update: Apple has informed us that our previously rejected Epic Games Store notarization submission has now been accepted,” the Epic Games Newsroom posted on X Friday afternoon.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney also reshared the news on X, adding that “development is back on track.” He also complained about delays in using Apple’s TestFlight program.
It is unclear if Apple accepted Epic Games’ notarization submission due to the backlash online.
A representative for Apple confirmed in a statement to NBC News that the Epic Sweden AB Marketplace app has now been approved but that it has asked Epic Games to make its Marketplace less similar to the Apple App Store in the future.
Elka Looks, director of corporate communications at Epic Games, directed NBC News to the Epic Games Newsroom account's latest post on X: "Apple has told some press channels that, though they have approved our current EGS iOS App for notarization, they are still demanding Epic change the user interface in a future version. Epic is disputing this."
Epic Games has waged a yearslong battle against app store companies like Apple and Google, which its CEO has said unfairly takes large cuts of revenue from various applications that have few additional options.
In June, a E.U. commission announced that it would be opening an investigation into Apple for noncompliance of the DMA over concerns about the Apple App Store. The news release claimed that Apple does not allow app developers to be fully independent from the Apple App Store.