Epic Games CEO Says Court Ruling Means ‘Apple Tax Is Dead’

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said Thursday (Dec. 12) that a federal appeals court’s decision in the company’s long-running legal battle with Apple marks “the beginning of true, untaxed competition in payments worldwide on iOS.”

The appeals court rejected Apple’s challenge to a judge’s ruling in April that the company defied an order having to do with a finding that it engaged in anticompetitive conduct.

In the April ruling, the judge said Apple deliberately ignored her 2021 order to allow developers to direct consumers to other payment options outside the App Store.

The appeals court also ruled Thursday that a district court judge must consider allowing Apple to collect a commission on transactions made outside its App Store, though not the 27% commission it used to charge.

The district court banned all commissions, “abusing its discretion,” the appeals court said in its ruling.

In a Thursday evening post on X, Sweeney wrote that the appeals court’s decision confirmed: “The Apple Tax is dead in the USA.”

“Apple can require side-by-side placement of Apple payments and developer payments, as Fortnite does,” Sweeney wrote. “And Apple can collect fees for actual costs of facilitating links and IP associated with links.

“Justifiable costs? Likely $10’s to $100’s per app review, not a percentage of developer revenue,” Sweeney wrote in another Thursday evening post on X.

“This is the beginning of true, untaxed competition in payments worldwide on iOS.”

Sweeney later replied to a post that included a quote from the appeals court’s decision.

“‘The power to tax involves the power to destroy’, quotes the 9th Circuit Court about the Apple Tax and its role as a weapon to block competition,” Sweeney wrote.

Apple did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

An April 30 ruling in the long legal battle brought by Epic Games required Apple to allow third-party payment options within its App Store.

While Apple defeated most of the original claims in the 2021 case, the court mandated that it loosen its restrictions and allow developers to direct users to third-party payment methods — and a judge said April 30 that Apple had deliberately circumvented that order.