Malcolm Owen
Epic Games has compensated players affected by its lawsuit against Apple over "Fortnite," by crediting macOS and iOS players with V-Bucks to their accounts that can be spent on other platforms.
Players of "Fortnite" on iOS and macOS have been left without the ability to enjoy their V-Bucks, an in-game currency used to buy items, following Apple's decision to block further updates to the game while the Apple-Epic lawsuit rolls on. For the moment, Epic has attempted to appease affected players who are not able to enjoy the funds they have paid for.
Epic has advised it has started to grant a V-Bucks bonus to players who used iOS and macOS, which can be spent "on any platform," reports The Verge. The grants, which have been added to accounts as of November 9, can be used on any other platform the game is available to play on, such as PC or game consoles.
For iOS players: the bonus received equals your current balance of unspent V-Bucks purchased through the App Store.
— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) November 6, 2020
The value of the grant to each player is equal to the amount of unspent credit on iOS purchased via the App Store. For macOS accounts, the credit is equivalent to unspent V-Bucks bought from Epic directly.
Apple blocked updates to the game over a major disagreement with Epic concerning in-app payments. Epic introduced a payment system to the app that worked separately from Apple's mechanism that apps in the App Store are required to use for in-game transactions, a move that forced Apple to pull the game, which in turn spawned the lawsuit.
Apple denied Epic the ability to further update Fortnite, which means the version on iOS and macOS is stalled while other platforms continue to be developed. This means new items included on the other platforms and level changes are not available on iOS or macOS, and are unlikely to do so until Apple reinstates Epic's access, something that may not happen until the lawsuits complete.
Amber Neely
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
3 Comments
People say Apple is arrogant but Apple doesn’t hold a candle to Epic Games. They actually believe their games are so popular they can damage Apple by withholding the ability to play them on macOS and iOS devices. All they are doing is hurting their customers in an attempt to get to Apple. As has been reported many times Epic can simply restore their apps to comply with App Store rules and continue the fight Apple over those rules in the courts. But no, they decided to screw their customers in the name of their sick-minded “principles”. The sad thing is that, if they lose the lawsuit, they will comply with the App Store rules to get back to making money off of the customers they screwed over for over a year. Even more sad, those screwed over customers will likely return to paying money to the very Epic that screwed them.
A few months ago this discussion would have been one of the busiest threads on this site, but I think this topic has been mostly exhausted by now. There are people on both sides and I haven't seen anyone admit that these threads have changed them to a different opinion. Either people support Apple's right to have its own iOS rules or they oppose such a right.
There's also the fact that in an hour a major announcement from Apple is coming so that's a second reason this thread will be a little quiet.
Pffft… nothing here to see, guys. It's just Epic squirming cos they have a new season coming out soon, but their customers are gone fishing …in new seas. We've all moved on.