Meta, X, Microsoft And Match Group Come Out Against Apple's Third-party Payment Rules

The four companies have filed an amicus brief in Epic Games' legal action against Apple, lending some heavyweight backing to the Fortnite developer's case.

After Apple was forced to enable third-party payments on iOS due to the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) and a court ruling in the United States, the iPhone maker said it would still charge a fee of up to 27 percent when developers process purchases outside of the App Store. This prompted Epic Games this month, to file a petition asking District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to enforce a permanent injunction she issued against Apple in 2021 as part of her ruling in the case between the two companies.

Apple takes up to a 30 percent cut of App Store purchases. But following the court's decision which compelled it to allow developers to direct users to alternative payment systems, the Cupertino tech giant is apparently trying to make an end-run around the rules by implementing the 27 percent fee.

The four companies supporting Epic's petition claim that the fee Apple is charging on external payments effectively leaves the previous rules in place. "The Apple Plan comports with neither the letter nor the spirit of this Court's mandate," their brief states.

X argues the 27 percent fee doesn't give developers much incentive to link to external payment methods. Microsoft, which has been working on its own mobile game store, noted that Apple's latest policy limits its ability to offer users subscriptions and discounts. Match Group argued that Apple's decision will affect many developers and users, and that it stymies the court's attempt to offer consumers competition on pricing.

Most of Rogers' ruling in the case was in Apple's favor, but both companies appealed the decision all the way up to the Supreme Court. However, in January, the highest court in the US declined to hear the appeals. That means Rogers' permanent injunction against Apple stood, but Epic was not happy about the way Apple implemented the third-party payment changes.

Epic is already working to debut its game store on both iOS and Android later this year. The company said at the Game Developer Conference that the store would be cross-platform between mobile, PC and macOS. The company plans to charge developers of mobile games the same 12 percent cut it takes from PC game sales.