Court Rulings Against Apple May Shift Its Gaze Toward Unity
OPINION – The dispute between Epic Games and Apple that started in 2020 reached a court verdict in April this year, but don’t think for a second that this is over. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers sided with the plaintiff in an 80-page ruling that Apple failed to comply with her injunction from 2021 by implementing a 27% fee on external purchases and implementing warnings that discouraged users from using alternative payment methods.
Gonzales Rogers also tossed Apple’s vice president of finance, Alex Roman, to federal prosecutors for further investigation. In her verdict, she called his testimony in court misdirection and outright lies in the verdict.
While the verdict has been regarded as a massive win for the gaming industry’s developers and consumers, it looks like they’ve all suffered a sudden case of temporary amnesia and forgotten that we’re still talking about Apple. The same company that deliberately made its customers buy a new charger with the latest iPhone for decades.
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Another Ruling Stirs Across The Pond
The US justice system is not the only one to come after Apple. The European Union (EU) has been trying to get Apple to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) there since May 2023. According to EU regulations, Apple must allow developers to inform users about alternative payment options that don’t come with a hefty fee – and complete transactions free of charge.
Measures taken by Apple weren’t deemed enough and as late as April this year, the EU levied Apple with a €500 million ($570 million) fine and slapped them with a 30-day order to comply. Naturally, Apple is appealing that ruling too.
It’s not like Apple is fighting for its survival. From its point of view, the company is looking out for its customers and products. How a 30% fee on in-App purchases from third-party suppliers fit into that picture is anyone’s guess.
Like The Eye of Sauron
Imagine that you’ve just lost two long public court-battles, and with it, not only legal fees to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, but also a revenue stream of billions, and you have a fine of more than half a billion looming over your head. Well, a company like Apple is not going to roll over and let this simply slide.
Just like the Eye of Sauron, people in Apple’s merger and acquisition’s department are scanning the business landscape for something to replace the lost income. The company’s board of directors has likely given the marching orders already.
Now that the tech giant can’t charge their exorbitant fees for allowing developers to sell their apps in the App Store, they could potentially look for another way to rule them all in the gaming industry.
Uniting Revenue With Unity Purchase
According to Unity, over 70% of all mobile games are built on the company’s engine. This of course includes Android games as well. In other words, Unity’s suite of development tools is way more popular than the Unreal engine, which just so happens to be under Epic Games – the company that just wiped the legal floor with Apple in the US.
In August 2021, Unity’s market capitalization peaked at $55.49 billion, but only 14 months later it had dropped to $7.84 billion, and it hasn’t been able to get anywhere near a full recovery since then. As of this writing, Unity is estimated to be worth $10.84 billion. This is basically chump change for Apple.
While there are plenty of reasons for Unity’s downfall, one of them is Apple’s iOS privacy changes which disrupted Unity’s advertising services. There were other factors that contributed much more to Unity’s tumble, but there’s still this connection between the two companies.
The Beacons May Already Have Been Lit
If indeed Apple has turned its gaze toward buying Unity the next move could be diabolical. What’s to say that Apple won’t update Unity’s current annual fee of $185 per month for the PRO version and $450 for the industry version to a hell of a lot more – just out of spite? And, from Apple’s perspective, what better way to extend the tallest of middle fingers to Epic Games?
Shall this all come to pass, the gaming industry will never be the same.
