(Reuters) – UK antitrust court ruled Monday that Epic Games, the creator of the popular game Fortnite, will not be allowed to continue its case against Apple Inc. in the UK over its App Store payment system and control over app downloads .
The two companies have been fighting since August, when the game maker tried to avoid Apple’s 30% fee on the App Store by launching its own in-app payment system, which led to Apple’s subsequent ban on Fortnite from his shop.
The British court said Epic’s lawsuit against Google Alphabet Inc. could go further, but said the United States would be a better forum for his case against Apple.
“Epic will reconsider pursuing its case against Apple in the UK after the US case is resolved,” the video game company said in a statement in response to the court’s decision.
Apple and Google did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
In October, a California federal judge ruled in a lawsuit that Apple could ban the Fortnite game from the App Store, but it should not harm the Epic Developer Tools business, which includes Unreal Engine software. Used by hundreds of other video games.
Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney previously said that Apple’s control over its platform has tipped the playing field.
Reporting of Chavi Mehta, Ayanti Bera and Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Edited by Krishna Chandra Eluri