Epic and Apple are fighting over money, and the real losers are the gamers caught in the middle. That’s all the more evident in Apple’s latest move, as Epic admits starting September 11, it can no longer offer “Sign in with Apple” as a secure way to access Epic Accounts.
The gaming company announced the change today via Twitter, and placed the blame solely on Apple. If you previously used “Sign in with Apple” for your Epic account, you’ll need to make sure your email address and password are up to date. Because after September 11, “Sign in with Apple” won’t work anymore.
Apple will no longer allow users to sign into Epic Games accounts using “Sign In with Apple” as soon as September 11, 2020. If you used “Sign In with Apple”, please make sure your email and password are up to date. https://t.co/4XZX5g0eaf
— Epic Games Store (@EpicGames) September 9, 2020
To work through that process, Epic put together a help page with all the necessary steps. You essentially need to convert your account over from Apple to an Epic account, and you need to do it before September 11, so don’t wait.
The two companies are essentially fighting over money; Epic doesn’t want to pay Apple’s 30% cut for in-app purchases. While Epic claims it’s fighting on behalf of smaller developers, the greater truth is a 30% cut is a significant chunk change for the gaming giant.
Epic tried to bypass the fee by adding its own payment option without Apple’s permission, and for its efforts found itself kicked from Apple’s app store. While a judge did prevent Apple from hurting Unreal Engine, Epic’s games remain off-store.
This latest move by Apple seems petty, even if Apple did break contracts. After all, Apple positions “Sign in with Apple” a security and privacy feature, one “better than” similar offerings from Google and Facebook.
It doesn’t track you in the same manner that the latter two do, so the promise is true to an extent. But if security and privacy matter so much to the company, it’s little offputting to see Apple forcibly remove that protection from users caught up in the middle of the battle.
Source: Epic