Epic Games files complaint to support CMA Apple investigation

Epic Games today announced the company has filed a complaint to the United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in support of its investigation into Apple’s anticompetitive behavior. This is an important step in Epic’s continued global fight for fairer digital platforms. 

The complaint alleges that Apple’s anticompetitive behavior and prohibitively restrictive rules governing the distribution of apps and payment processing constitute a clear violation of the UK Competition Act of 1998. It also illustrates Apple’s monopolistic practices, which forbid users and developers respectively from acquiring or distributing apps through marketplaces other than Apple’s App Store, while simultaneously forcing any in-app purchase to be processed through Apple’s own payment system. 

“By kneecapping the competition and exerting its monopoly power over app distribution and payments, Apple strips UK consumers of the right to choose how and where they get their apps, while locking developers into a single marketplace that lets Apple charge any commission rate they choose,” said Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney. “These harmful practices lead to artificially inflated costs for consumers, and stifle innovation among developers, many of whom are unable to compete in a digital ecosystem that is rigged against them.”

Epic has also commenced legal proceedings against Apple in the U.S. and Australia, and has filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in the European Union in support of its ongoing investigation into Apple’s harmful App Store conduct. 

Similar to the cases Epic has filed around the globe, the company is not seeking monetary damages. Instead, Epic is pursuing regulatory remedies that will prevent Apple’s intentional distortion and manipulation of the market and ensure fair access and competition for consumers and developers in the UK and around the world.