Judge Unimpressed with Epic's Argument

With so much other stuff going on, it's easy to forget that a few weeks ago the gaming world was taking sides during a big scuff-up between Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite, and Apple and Google, the primary mobile marketplace Mongols. So far, both sides have traded blows, which have alternated between childish and exasperated, but so far we hadn't heard how the judge reacted to their various accusations and claims. But that changed yesterday.

As a quick reminder: Epic has argued that Apple's app store is an unfair monopoly, that they're doing damage to the Fortnite brand by removing the game from their store, and that being forced to give a portion of their money to Apple was an example of "tying", the illegal practice of forcing people to buy one thing to get another thing.

Apple, conversely, has argued that's all dumb: Epic Games is offering Fortnite on other consoles, which is competition, Epic Games has used the removal of the game as an excuse to attack their company and brand, and that there was ample evidence that Epic knew what it was doing and acted in bad faith in order to make Apple look bad for holding them to the same standards they hold everyone else.

As of right now, the judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, is leaning more towards Apple, saying that Epic Games has so far been dishonest and unimpressive with their arguments.

"You did something, you lied about it by omission, by not being forthcoming. That's the security issue. That's the security issue! There are a lot of people in the public who consider you guys heroes for what you guys did, but it's still not honest."

She continued to say that she didn't think the "brand" was damaged by the removal, since there are still lots of ways to play the game.

"Walled gardens have existed for decades. Nintendo has had a walled garden. Sony has had a walled garden. Microsoft has had a walled garden. What Apple's doing is not much different... It's hard to ignore the economics of the industry, which is what you're asking me to do."

Epic Games haven't lost, yet, and given how these lawsuits tend to go it'll be a long time before a verdict is rendered either way. But this is still very bad news for Epic: if I had to guess, their original plan was to come out strong, get a position of strength in early verdicts, and use that to negotiate a better deal for themselves with Apple so they can get Fortnite back on mobile devices again rather than force both sides to enter a protracted legal battle. They didn't get the verdict they want, and now it's looking like they either have to stick it out for the long haul or give up the ghost.

I'm expecting the latter, but I might be surprised.