Valve gets dragged into Apple and Epic Ongoing Legal Battle

Epic Games is fighting a legal battle with Apple over the distribution of Fortnite on iOS and now Valve has been dragged into the matter

Apple and Epic are involved in a bitter legal dispute over the distribution of Fortnite on iOS. Several court documents revealed that Apple dragged Valve in this dispute in November 2020 and has been demanding commercial Steam data across multiple years.

Since Valve takes similar revenue cut from games sold on Steam, its data would help Apple to build a case against Epic Game’s claims about Apple’s 30% App Store tax.

As per Epic Games, Apple is taking advantage of its market position to harass developers to pay a cut for every dollar earned through the App Store.

Apple vs Epic: Legal Dispute

Epic Games claim that since Apple enjoys a monopoly so get involved in unfair business practices on the iOS platform. Since August 2020, both Epic Games and Apple have been up in arms.

The conflict started after Epic Games allowed iOS users to purchase V-bucks directly from their website, bypassing Apple’s App Store. In response, Fortnite was removed from the App Store. It has been missing from iOS for the last six months, as iOS doesn’t provide a side-loading option for apps.

Valve gets dragged

The legal fight between these two giants is involving even other video game companies. As per a joint court letter filed on 18th February, Apple is dragging Valve and asking for its sales-related information for games sold on Steam.

Valve has been asked to produce information in response to Requests 2 and 32, which Valve is denying to provide.

All about Request 2 and 32

In request 2 Valve has been asked to provide documents regarding their total yearly sales of apps and in-app products, annual advertising revenue from Steam, annual revenue from Steam, annual sales of external products attributed to Steam, and annual gross or net earnings from Steam.

In Request 32 Valve was asked to provide documents to show the name of each App available on Steam. It had to provide the date when the App was available on Steam. Valve further gave price of the App and any in-app product available on Steam.

Significance of Data for Apple

Apple will use these data to prove that Epic Games has other places to sell Fortnite and its act of terminating Fortnite is perfectly legal. However, Valve has refused to provide the requested information. It insists that too much information has been requested by Apple and it is a private company that never reveals total earnings and other business details, unlike a public listed entity.

Valve Response to Apple

Valve is showing no interest in fulfilling Apple’s request. It has said that it is not a concerned party in its fight with Epic Games. The demand of Apple would create an additional burden on providing the documents required by Apple.

Valve via a statement responded that it does not create or keep such information in the ordinary course of business. It further said that it does not compete in the mobile app market.

Apple further argued that Samsung has fulfilled similar requests. To this Valve said that Samsung keeps records of their sales as it is a public company. However, Valve is a private company and as per law does not have to maintain such records for the public.