Apple terminates Epic Games’ iOS developer access once again

Apple is sticking with its decision to keep Epic Games' development account for iOS closed. The news follows on from Epic Games' planned return to iOS later this year and now, EU regulators appear to be getting involved. 

Epic Games explained that its iOS developer account access has been terminated again. According to Epic, Apple cited ‘public criticism' against the company, claiming that Epic Games is a ‘threat' to Apple's ecosystem. Epic CEO, Tim Sweeney, took to Twitter to share the post that Apple took issue with. It is a tweet from February 26th of this year, in which Sweeney offers his opinion of Apple's recent moves.

Now, as spotted by Bloomberg, the European Commission is getting involved, with a spokesperson confirming that it has “requested further explanations” from Apple regarding its decision to block Epic's developer access to iOS. The Commission wants to examine whether or not Apple has breached its digital market rules.

Apple is in a spot of bother already in the EU, as the commission recently imposed a €1.2 billion fine on the company following a successful complaint from rival streaming service provider, Spotify. Apple is also having to come to grips with the EU's Digital Markets Act, which will force certain parts of Apple's business to operate differently. The EU has also recently forced Apple to adopt the USB-C standard for the iPhone moving forward, doing away with the proprietary Lightning connector.

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KitGuru Says: There appears to be lingering animosity between Apple and Epic Games. Now we'll have to see how involved the EU will get here and if it will be able to force Apple to grant access to Epic Games to develop software for iOS. 

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