EL7.AI
StocksMedium•22 October 2026•
2 min read

Commissions of Nearly 30% at Heart of Epic's Dispute With Apple and Google in Australia

Key Facts

1The payment system Epic introduced allowed users to bypass Apple and Google's commissions of about 30% on in-app purchases.
2In the U.S. proceedings, Apple imposed a commission of 27% on covered external purchases made within 7 days of clicking a link.
3Australia's Federal Court closed the case between Google and Epic at both parties' request on 6 March 2026.
4The Australian competition regulator's authorisation to implement certain terms of the Google-Epic settlement runs until 30 September 2032.

Australia's competition regulator confirmed that the court found Apple and Google had misused their market power by restricting alternative app distribution and in-app payment methods, in a dispute with Epic Games over commissions of nearly 30% on in-app purchases. The regulator said the payment system Epic introduced allowed users to bypass these commissions charged by the two companies. The anticompetitive practices examined by the court covered alternative app distribution, as well as options for paying for in-app purchases. The regulator described the court's findings by saying Apple and Google had "each misused their market power". In its response to the earlier liability ruling, Apple said it welcomed the court's rejection of some of Epic's claims, according to a company statement cited by Reuters. But in the same statement, it strongly disputed other parts of the ruling.

Epic began legal proceedings against Apple in Australia on 18 November 2020, according to the company's statement issued in Sydney when it launched the case. In a subsequent statement on Fortnite's return to Apple's stores around the world, Epic said the Australian App Store remained excluded from the return. It added that a return in Australia depended on awaiting the court's decision on payment arrangements, saying: "We are not back on the Australian App Store yet", and "We have to wait for the court's decision". In the U.S. proceedings, Apple's measures also covered purchases paid for using payment systems outside the App Store, according to Reuters. The company imposed a commission of 27% on developers' purchases covered by these arrangements. The commission applied to purchases made within 7 days of clicking a link taking the user to an external payment system.

The dispute between Google and Epic in Australia ended in a settlement, followed by the case being closed at both parties' request. According to a document from Australia's competition regulator, the Federal Court closed the proceedings between them on 6 March 2026. The regulator granted authorisation to implement certain terms of the settlement reached by the two companies. The authorised terms include offering and using alternative payment options to the Google Play store's billing system, according to the regulator's statement. The authorisation to implement those terms runs until 30 September 2032.