Apple has summoned Valve in an epic Games fight

Apple has summoned Valve in an epic Games fight

A new court filing has revealed that Apple sued Valve Software in November 2020 in connection with its ongoing litigation with Epic Games. Epic wants data on Steam's sales and business operations because "it is a direct competitor to the Epic Game Store" but, unhappy with the request, Valve has yet to fully cooperate and refuses to provide information Epic insists "not to increase the risk of any harm to competition." The subpoena, which was made public via a joint discovery letter, was issued in the hope that Apple could collect information about how Steam works for use in the proceedings. However, while Apple and Valve "have met and spoken by phone and corresponded in a good faith effort to resolve outstanding disputes," "the parties were unable to reach an agreement." "Valve has already produced documents on its revenue sharing, competition with Epic, Steam distribution contracts and other documents," the company said, but estimates that the request to provide "six years of PC game and item sales for hundreds of third-party game videos, and then producing a large amount of sensitive information about those games and Valve's revenue" is unreasonable. Epic Games launched its legal fight against Apple last year after its hit battle royale title, Fortnite, was pulled from the iPhone app store. Apple justified its action by claiming that Epic broke its agreements with Apple after allowing players to purchase VBucks, the in-game currency, through channels other than the App Store, avoiding the need to give the tech giant a cut in revenue. The ban prevents 116 million of its 350 million players from accessing game updates, so Epic has led the fight in courts in the US, Australia, the UK and now Europe to get it lifted.

What's next for #FreeFortnite?

confuse? You're not alone. Thankfully, we have an introduction detailing everything that has happened so far in the Apple vs Epic lawsuit. The two giants will meet in US courts on May 3, 2021. That's a bit sooner than expected, but it's still happening around nine months after Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple in August 2020. The trial based in Australia, UK and Europe has yet to be announced. Epic initiated proceedings against the tech giant in each region in November 2020, January 2021, and February 2021, respectively. Given how long it took for the US legal system to set a trial date, we can expect Epic's legal battles to continue through most of 2021, and potentially into 2022 as well. Via PC Gamer.