In a portion of Apple’s defense in the Epic Games lawsuit, the App Store owner accuses the Fortnite developer of filing the case as a publicity stunt.
The Verge spotted the claim in Apple’s 37-page opposition brief to the injunction sought by Epic, which would force Apple to restore Fortnite to the App Store until the outcome of the full trial.
For reasons having nothing to do with Epic’s claims against Apple, Fortnite’s popularity is on the wane. By July 2020, interest in Fortnite had decreased by nearly 70% as compared to October 2019. This lawsuit (and the front-page headlines it has generated) appears to be part of a marketing campaign designed to reinvigorate interest in Fortnite […]
If Epic were truly concerned that it would suffer reputational injury from this dispute, it would not be engaging in these elaborate efforts to publicize it. From all appearances (including the #freefortnite campaign), Epic thinks its conduct here will engender goodwill, boost its reputation, and drive users to Fortnite, not the opposite. That is not harm.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously. The game was dying because it was a passing fad (see: Pokemon) and Epic was on the slide down, desperate to boost their biggest moneymaker in whatever way possible. One dead giveaway: Epic’s big “protest” video (“1984” parody) was ready to go immediately.