Epic Games and Apple had a tough fight regarding the revenue share the latter charges on apps and game publishers. Cut to when Sony stopped Epic for unleashing Fortnite as a cross-platform game available across all platforms in 2018? Apparently, the situation between Sony and Epic is still the same.
According to the latest update, during an Epic versus Apple trial in the court earlier today, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney asked Apple some really bizarre and complex questions. During the trial, a cross-examiner questioned Sweeney about the financial matters of cross-platform play that Fortnite works with. This is when Sweeney spewed the bins about how Sony charges Epic some extra cash to enable cross-platform play of Fortnite.
Sony charges Epic for cross-platform play of Fortnite
As per the reports, Sony doesn’t like the concept of cross-platform and it is well-documented. Apparently, Sweeney has been following Sony Interactive Entertainment to enable cross-platform of Fortnite on PS4. Apparently, Sony charges compensations from Epic to facilitate it based on certain conditions.
To simplify it, Sony charges a hefty compensation from Epic when players go on buying V-Bucks from their iPhones and still play Fortnite on PSN. According to Tom Warren, Sony is the only platform that charges Epic to pay up additional fees to facilitate crossplay of the popular battle royale game.
Sweeney went ahead and stated how the process of buying V-Bucks works. He stated that when a user buys V-Bucks, every platform involved gets a cut such as Epic, Apple(if purchases from iPhone), and Sony. Here, it so happens that Sony gets a larger share of the price. The same applies to all in-app purchases without any doubt.
Fortnite is one of the most popular battle royale games that has accounted for more than $9 billion in revenue in the first two years itself. The publisher Epic Games has spent more than $11 million alone on the Epic Games Store exclusives. Epic parted from Apple due to its exorbitant fees at 30 percent that the app aggregator used to charge on every IAP. Epic is now available via its website and can be installed by side-loading only. All the transactions take place on its website rather than the Appl Store on iOS devices.
