Epic Games has filed for a court injunction blocking Apple from restricting its access to iOS and Mac developer tools, the Wall Street Journal reports. Apple told the make of Fortnite that its developer accounts would be closed by 28 August, after Epic violated the terms of the App Store.
Epic argued such a move would cause "unquantifiable and irreparable" damage to its business, as well as harm its customers, according to the filing with the US district court in Northern California. In addition to restricting access to Fortnite and its other games, Apple's move would block iOS and Mac users from updates to Epic's Unreal Engine, a software platform for developers of games and other digital content. "Apple is attacking Epic’s entire business in unrelated areas," Epic said. It seeks a temporary restraining order on restricting access to software development tools.
Apple said in a statement that it would not make an exception for Epic and allow it to contravene the App Store rules which protect customers. "The problem Epic has created for itself is one that can easily be remedied if they submit an update of their app that reverts it to comply with the guidelines they agreed to and which apply to all developers," Apple said.
