Apple Thinks Epic Games Had Ulterior Motives Behind Its Lawsuit

As the court date (May 3) approaches, things are beginning to heat up in the Epic Games v Apple trial.

Apple is set to argue that the status quo is good for gamers and for developers, while Epic’s argument accuses Apple of using monopolistic tactics to take unfair advantage of developers as well as competing entities, so that the company can line its pockets with surplus revenue.

But there might be more than meets the eye with Epic’s stand in the trial.

As per a filing by CNET that details court documents submitted by Apple, Epic had well laid plans to malign the tech giant; plans that Epic had formulated months in advance together with its lawyers and PR firm.

According to CNET, Apple have reportedly uncovered evidence that disproves Epic’s noble motives behind the lawsuit.

The evidence states that Epic planned its lawsuit as a part of “Project Liberty” – a thoroughly coordinated media blitz which involved making tech giants like Apple and Google look like “the bad guys” and to use the resulting publicity to renew dwindling interest in Fortnite.

However, all this was planned for a time before COVID. Once people were driven into their homes by the “blitz” of the pandemic, Fortnite’s player count began to surge once again.

Epic is bound to use this resurgence in popularity as a way to discount Apple’s accusations but it’ll be interesting to see what proof Apple presents to sway the trial in its favour.

For those in need of a quick recap: Epic is suing Apple over violation of anti-trust laws, accusing the iPhone maker of using its power to levy a 30% charge on developers for all transactions made using the App Store.

This lawsuit was a result of Apple (and Google) removing Fortnite from the App Store after Epic released a Fortnite update that essentially bypassed Apple’s payment system.

Apple CEO Tim Cook as well as Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney are among those expected to testify. Both companies had initially agreed to reject a court trial but here we are.