**The Epic Fortnite Saga: A Battle Between Apple and Epic Games**

In a dramatic turn of events, Apple and Epic Games are currently locked in a heated battle over the future of mobile gaming. The controversy began when Epic Games, the developer behind the popular game Fortnite, released an update that allowed players to make direct payments through their app store, bypassing Apple's 30% cut on all transactions.

**The Consequences of Epic's Decision**

Epic's move was seen as a brazen attempt to circumvent Apple's rules and regulations. In response, Apple revoked Unreal Engine, the game engine used by Fortnite, from its platform. This decision sent shockwaves throughout the gaming community, with many developers expressing their support for Epic Games.

**The Trial: A War of Words**

The trial was a lively affair, with both sides presenting their arguments. Apple's lawyers argued that Epic had knowingly broken the rules and agreed to play by them before choosing to defy Apple's guidelines. Epic's lawyers, on the other hand, claimed that the company had been unfairly targeted and that Unreal Engine should not be revoked as punishment.

**A Question of Courage**

In a bizarre moment during the trial, the judge quipped that Epic Games was being "courageous" by choosing to take on Apple in court. The remark was met with laughter from both sides of the courtroom, highlighting the lighthearted and comedic tone of the proceedings.

**The Consequences for Fortnite Players**

For players who have been using Fortnite on their iOS or Android devices, the news is not all bad. Despite Epic Games' best efforts to make the game available across multiple platforms, it appears that Fortnite will not be returning to mobile operating systems anytime soon. However, players can still access the game through console or PC.

**The Fallout: A Cautionary Tale for Game Developers**

In the aftermath of this controversy, many game developers are taking note of Epic Games' decision to challenge Apple's rules. Using Unreal Engine can no longer be considered a risk-free option, as developers now understand that Epic is willing to take bold action in pursuit of their goals.

**The Future: Uncertain but Looming**

As the trial continues to unfold, it remains to be seen whether Epic Games will emerge victorious or succumb to Apple's demands. One thing is certain, however: this controversy has left a lasting impact on the gaming community and will likely have far-reaching consequences for game developers and publishers in the years to come.

**The Verdict: A Status Quo Ante**

In a surprising twist, the judge ultimately decided to maintain the status quo, refusing to ban Unreal Engine from Apple's platform. This decision has been met with both relief and disappointment from fans of Fortnite and other Epic Games titles. As the trial comes to a close, one thing is clear: this saga will be remembered for years to come as a defining moment in the ongoing battle between tech giants.

**The Community Reacts**

As news of the verdict spread, fans of Fortnite took to social media to express their reactions. "I'm so sorry," said one fan, "but it's clear that Epic Games made some poor decisions. I'll be waiting with bated breath to see what the future holds for Fortnite." Meanwhile, others were more critical, arguing that Epic had recklessly pursued a course of action that ultimately backfired.

**A Final Word**

In the end, this controversy serves as a reminder of the ever-shifting landscape of technology and the importance of adaptability in the face of change. Whether or not you're a fan of Fortnite or an avid gamer, it's clear that Epic Games' decision to challenge Apple will have lasting consequences for the industry as a whole. As we wait with bated breath for the outcome of this trial, one thing is certain: only time will tell what the future holds for these two giants in the world of tech.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enapple and epic clashed in court for the very first time and ios gamers ended up being the losers no marvel season for you okay here's what's going on apple and epic faced off at an emergency hearing to decide if apple could yank epic games off the app store entirely and revoke their developer access for unreal engine epic filed for a temporary restraining order in mid-august asking the courts to please stop apple and the two companies went toe-to-toe in court for the very first time the hearing lasted about an hour over zoom and it was way more entertaining than any emergency hearing has any right to be mostly due to the no bs district judge yvonne gonzalez rogers who was not there to play games with either legal team unfortunately we weren't allowed to take screenshots or otherwise record or rebroadcast the proceedings so here's a little reenactment of what happened good afternoon i'm district judge yvonne gonzalez rogers no relation to steve i do not like shenanigans chicanery tomfoolery or malarkey in my courtroom make your cases epic you first thanks your honor i hope you like surprises because today i brought some very important precedent i said no shenanigans proceed whoa okay okay in that case apple is totally retaliating against us and they're gonna do us irreparable harm if they revoke our developer privileges and unreal engine fortnite isn't just a game it's a social environment people watch concerts in there and stuff and all the while there's a pandemic happening out there people are finding human connection while they battle royale we need fortnite in the app store and apple what say you thank you your honor first off we want customers to know they should be able to ride their sharks and buy their dances fortnite customers on ios are also apple customers epic did this to themselves and if you don't let us ban their games and its unreal engine they'd be able to profit without paying us plus other companies might get the same idea to bypass our payment system and that's not okay they agreed to the same contract every other company agrees to and they do not get special treatment we let them get away with this the idea could spread like a virus wow slightly ghoulish reference there pal but okay sure so epic why don't you just roll back the hotfix to before you broke the rules until the trial's over you have unclean hands here you knew exactly what you were doing when you pushed the update that included direct payment so like yikes a little bit we totally could do that but also we don't want to do that it's the principle of the thing previous antitrust cases suggest having unclean hands when it comes to defying monopolies is totally okay i think it was once socrates who said he who hath anti-trusted shall get mega busted i i don't think he said that and apple uh why can't you just leave epic's games on the app store and then have them owe you a mountain of money if a trial ends in your favor we absolutely could do that but we don't want to do that this is about our customers trusting us to create a safe private space to give us 30 of their money we were even nice enough to give epic 14 days to fix their mess that's a little thing we here at apple like to call courage courage right right will revoking unreal engine negatively impact third parties epic did it to themselves you did not answer my question at all um oh my god yes or no all right all right there's probably a non-zero chance maybe fyi your honor players are already reenacting the boston tea party in grimy greens and tossing apple tea into the harbor can you even believe it hashtag free fortnite epic you're going to war here with apple what about google oh yeah those guys we super sued them too okay this is already exhausting you're both making some very good points and both making some not great points epic you're worth bajillions of dollars and apple you're worth ka trillions of dollars nobody's going broke here this isn't a slam dunk for either of you apple nobody can buy an iphone from another company plus they can't buy apps on iphones from any other company either on the other hand you epic knew the rules and chose to break them knowing there would be consequences you're demanding fortnite and your other games be allowed to keep direct payments that entirely cut apple out of transactions live and effective until this whole trial is over basically having your cash and eating it too i guess what are you doing these fortnite kids are so weird this is an emergency request so i'm deciding to keep things status quo until either of you can make better arguments otherwise epic fortnite is still off the app store and apple you are not allowed to revoke related but separate developer accounts to punish epic specifically no banning unreal engine file some briefings in september and then we'll do a full non-emergency hearing to sort all this out until then stop arguing or i will turn this entire court zoom around and then nobody's gonna be happy court's adjourned okay so maybe it didn't go down exactly like that call it creative license epic and apple's lawyers are incredibly professional and judge rogers obviously takes her job and her cases very seriously but it was still pretty entertaining to watch what does this all mean for you if you're playing fortnite on ios or android it's probably time to check out other platforms if you're itching to play the new season which has a big marvel theme fortunately fortnite is cross-platform so if you're able to play on console or pc your progress your purchases your unlocks should transfer fine whenever fortnite makes it back to those mobile operating systems not a terrible inconvenience but still pretty annoying if you only have access to fortnite on mobile uh i am so sorry in my opinion you are the real victim here for game studios using unreal engine though i do wonder what they might do if they are in the earliest stages of development and don't know which sdk they're going to go with using unreal engine is certainly kind of a risk at this point as this trial won't be settled until at least mid 2021 maybe 2022 even and there's no guarantee that fortnite unreal engine or even epic games itself will be in the same lofty powerful position that it's in right now when it chose to pick this fight epic's lawyers already mentioned some developers were fleeing unreal engine during the hearing and i'm not sure how apple's threat to revoke it will affect the larger game dev community when they're choosing between unreal or unity to make their next game even though the judge protected unreal engine now that's no guarantee that she will protect it in the future to be fair she did seem very clear about banning unreal engine being a retaliatory overreach on apple's park so unless apple has some bonkers absolutely ironclad legal argument as to why epic games and unreal engine needs to be banned it's probably safe probably but it doesn't change the fact that developers now understand epic is willing to take risks with their livelihoods which might be tough for a small studio to get on board with when it's that kind of long-haul fight that maybe they don't have the money for and aren't willing to take that risk or look hey regardless of what you're doing maybe you're just here to watch all the fireworks and if so start stockpiling your popcorn now because i don't think either company is gonna get out of this one unscathed we'll keep updating you on this epic battle as it unfolds in the courts no idea what's happening well please feel free to check out my previous video where i explain what went down and how we got here make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any future court date recaps i do this all for you until then please tell me down in the comments what your favorite costume is in fall guys yes i said fall guys boom let's win those crowdsapple and epic clashed in court for the very first time and ios gamers ended up being the losers no marvel season for you okay here's what's going on apple and epic faced off at an emergency hearing to decide if apple could yank epic games off the app store entirely and revoke their developer access for unreal engine epic filed for a temporary restraining order in mid-august asking the courts to please stop apple and the two companies went toe-to-toe in court for the very first time the hearing lasted about an hour over zoom and it was way more entertaining than any emergency hearing has any right to be mostly due to the no bs district judge yvonne gonzalez rogers who was not there to play games with either legal team unfortunately we weren't allowed to take screenshots or otherwise record or rebroadcast the proceedings so here's a little reenactment of what happened good afternoon i'm district judge yvonne gonzalez rogers no relation to steve i do not like shenanigans chicanery tomfoolery or malarkey in my courtroom make your cases epic you first thanks your honor i hope you like surprises because today i brought some very important precedent i said no shenanigans proceed whoa okay okay in that case apple is totally retaliating against us and they're gonna do us irreparable harm if they revoke our developer privileges and unreal engine fortnite isn't just a game it's a social environment people watch concerts in there and stuff and all the while there's a pandemic happening out there people are finding human connection while they battle royale we need fortnite in the app store and apple what say you thank you your honor first off we want customers to know they should be able to ride their sharks and buy their dances fortnite customers on ios are also apple customers epic did this to themselves and if you don't let us ban their games and its unreal engine they'd be able to profit without paying us plus other companies might get the same idea to bypass our payment system and that's not okay they agreed to the same contract every other company agrees to and they do not get special treatment we let them get away with this the idea could spread like a virus wow slightly ghoulish reference there pal but okay sure so epic why don't you just roll back the hotfix to before you broke the rules until the trial's over you have unclean hands here you knew exactly what you were doing when you pushed the update that included direct payment so like yikes a little bit we totally could do that but also we don't want to do that it's the principle of the thing previous antitrust cases suggest having unclean hands when it comes to defying monopolies is totally okay i think it was once socrates who said he who hath anti-trusted shall get mega busted i i don't think he said that and apple uh why can't you just leave epic's games on the app store and then have them owe you a mountain of money if a trial ends in your favor we absolutely could do that but we don't want to do that this is about our customers trusting us to create a safe private space to give us 30 of their money we were even nice enough to give epic 14 days to fix their mess that's a little thing we here at apple like to call courage courage right right will revoking unreal engine negatively impact third parties epic did it to themselves you did not answer my question at all um oh my god yes or no all right all right there's probably a non-zero chance maybe fyi your honor players are already reenacting the boston tea party in grimy greens and tossing apple tea into the harbor can you even believe it hashtag free fortnite epic you're going to war here with apple what about google oh yeah those guys we super sued them too okay this is already exhausting you're both making some very good points and both making some not great points epic you're worth bajillions of dollars and apple you're worth ka trillions of dollars nobody's going broke here this isn't a slam dunk for either of you apple nobody can buy an iphone from another company plus they can't buy apps on iphones from any other company either on the other hand you epic knew the rules and chose to break them knowing there would be consequences you're demanding fortnite and your other games be allowed to keep direct payments that entirely cut apple out of transactions live and effective until this whole trial is over basically having your cash and eating it too i guess what are you doing these fortnite kids are so weird this is an emergency request so i'm deciding to keep things status quo until either of you can make better arguments otherwise epic fortnite is still off the app store and apple you are not allowed to revoke related but separate developer accounts to punish epic specifically no banning unreal engine file some briefings in september and then we'll do a full non-emergency hearing to sort all this out until then stop arguing or i will turn this entire court zoom around and then nobody's gonna be happy court's adjourned okay so maybe it didn't go down exactly like that call it creative license epic and apple's lawyers are incredibly professional and judge rogers obviously takes her job and her cases very seriously but it was still pretty entertaining to watch what does this all mean for you if you're playing fortnite on ios or android it's probably time to check out other platforms if you're itching to play the new season which has a big marvel theme fortunately fortnite is cross-platform so if you're able to play on console or pc your progress your purchases your unlocks should transfer fine whenever fortnite makes it back to those mobile operating systems not a terrible inconvenience but still pretty annoying if you only have access to fortnite on mobile uh i am so sorry in my opinion you are the real victim here for game studios using unreal engine though i do wonder what they might do if they are in the earliest stages of development and don't know which sdk they're going to go with using unreal engine is certainly kind of a risk at this point as this trial won't be settled until at least mid 2021 maybe 2022 even and there's no guarantee that fortnite unreal engine or even epic games itself will be in the same lofty powerful position that it's in right now when it chose to pick this fight epic's lawyers already mentioned some developers were fleeing unreal engine during the hearing and i'm not sure how apple's threat to revoke it will affect the larger game dev community when they're choosing between unreal or unity to make their next game even though the judge protected unreal engine now that's no guarantee that she will protect it in the future to be fair she did seem very clear about banning unreal engine being a retaliatory overreach on apple's park so unless apple has some bonkers absolutely ironclad legal argument as to why epic games and unreal engine needs to be banned it's probably safe probably but it doesn't change the fact that developers now understand epic is willing to take risks with their livelihoods which might be tough for a small studio to get on board with when it's that kind of long-haul fight that maybe they don't have the money for and aren't willing to take that risk or look hey regardless of what you're doing maybe you're just here to watch all the fireworks and if so start stockpiling your popcorn now because i don't think either company is gonna get out of this one unscathed we'll keep updating you on this epic battle as it unfolds in the courts no idea what's happening well please feel free to check out my previous video where i explain what went down and how we got here make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any future court date recaps i do this all for you until then please tell me down in the comments what your favorite costume is in fall guys yes i said fall guys boom let's win those crowds\n"