ACCC Joins Epic Case

Australia’s competition regulator has been allowed into Epic Games’ case against Apple, with the Federal Court set to hear what orders should follow last year’s ruling. (accc.gov.au) The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said on April 21 that it had been granted leave to intervene only on remedies, not on whether Apple broke the law. The agency said it will make submissions on “the relief to be ordered by the Court.” (accc.gov.au) That puts the regulator into the final stretch of Epic’s Australian fight with Apple, after Justice Jonathan Beach found in August 2025 that Apple and Google misused market power by restricting alternative app distribution and in-app payment methods on mobile devices. (accc.gov.au) In plain terms, the case is about who gets to decide how apps are installed and how digital purchases are processed on a phone. Epic wants stores and payment options outside Apple’s App Store rules; Apple has long argued its controls protect privacy, security and quality. (epicgames.com, apple.com) The remedies phase matters because liability has already been decided in Australia, and the remaining question is what conduct the court will force Apple to change. Startup Daily reported the next court showdown is scheduled for next week. (startupdaily.net, accc.gov.au) The ACCC has been studying app-store power for years. In its March 2025 digital platform services report, it said competition in mobile app distribution had “remained largely unchanged” since its 2021 app marketplaces report and that Apple and Google still held significant market power in mobile operating systems in Australia. (accc.gov.au) Epic’s Australian cases against Apple and Google started in 2020 and 2021 after Fortnite was removed for offering Epic’s own payment system. Epic says the restrictions shut out rival stores and payment providers; Apple says the App Store is “a safe and trusted place” for users to discover apps. (epicgames.com, apple.com) Google is no longer in the Australian courtroom fight with Epic. The ACCC said Epic’s case against Google was dismissed by consent in March 2026 after the companies reached a global settlement, leaving Apple as the live remedies dispute. (accc.gov.au, accc.gov.au) Epic has tied the case to its broader push to get its mobile store onto more phones. On its iPhone store page, Epic says third-party marketplaces depend on legislation that allows them, and it points to the European Union as a market where it already operates on iOS. (store.epicgames.com) The immediate question in Australia is no longer whether Apple’s rules crossed the line, but how far the court will go in rewriting them. The ACCC now has a formal seat in that argument. (accc.gov.au)