Apple Promotes ‘PUBG Mobile’ to Rib Epic Games
Credit: Angela Lang/CNET
Apple is offering alternatives on the App Store to Fortnite.
Apple and Epic Games are still locked in a pitched legal battle over Epic’s handling of microtransactions in Fortnite. If you haven’t heard, then here’s the short version: Apple usually takes a cut of in-game purchases in App Store apps, Epic circumvented this with a direct payment option. This violated the App Store’s terms of service, Fortnite got taken down, and Epic launched a big smear campaign and lawsuit against Apple.
Epic announced last week that Apple would formally pull their developer account on the App Store on August 28, today. Sure enough, the morning came, and Epic’s presence on the App Store was no more, or at least the presence associated with Fortnite. Epic maintains several presences on the App Store, due to their ownership of the Unreal game engine, so Apple’s middle ground on this was to only terminate the account associated with Fortnite.
In a bit of a cheeky move on Apple’s part, App Store users noticed today that when they opened the store, they were greeted by an editorial from Apple promoting the mobile version of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, one of the progenitors of the battle royal gameplay model and a longtime rival to Fortnite.
A new era of @PUBGMOBILE is coming, featuring an overhaul of the Erangel map and a bold new look.
Check out the exclusive sneak peek here. https://t.co/ZmcDm6zKQR
— App Store (@AppStore) August 28, 2020
Reaction to this ribbing on Twitter has been mostly negative, with many users saying they would simply stop using the App Store and go play Fortnite on a different platform. Regular Fortnite players who can only play on Apple devices are especially upset, as the game recently received a major content update on all other platforms. This means anyone still playing on an Apple device won’t have the new content, nor will they be able to cross-play with other platforms that do.
Apple has stated that they would be willing to re-instate Fortnite on the App Store if Epic removes the direct payment option, but Epic has refused this offer.
