Apple kills Epic's iOS developer account because Tim Sweeney said mean things about it on Twitter

If you thought the legal beef between Epic and Apple was over, it's time to think again. Epic said today that less than a month after approving its App Store developer account, Apple has now terminated it, leaving the Fortnite developer unable to bring its planned Epic Games Store to iOS devices.

Epic said the termination of its developer account is a «serious violation» of the European Union's Digital Markets Act, which compels Apple and other companies to allow third-party storefronts on their devices. Enabling those storefronts is something Apple has resisted for years, and even when it announced its intention to comply with the DMA, Apple did its best to make it all a net negative, saying it «is introducing new safeguards that reduce — but don’t eliminate — new risks the DMA poses to EU users.»

Still, it seemed like a done deal. «We are bringing more opportunities to developers across all platforms and we’re so excited about what’s to come.… including bringing the Epic Games Store to iOS in Europe,» Epic tweeted triumphantly on February 16. «Dev account secured, let’s go!»

Ah, but no. «To our surprise, Apple has terminated that account and now we cannot develop the Epic Games Store for iOS,» Epic wrote today. «This is a serious violation of the DMA and shows Apple has no intention of allowing true competition on iOS devices.

»In terminating Epic’s developer account, Apple is taking out one of the largest potential competitors to the Apple App Store. They are undermining our ability to be a viable competitor and they are showing other developers what happens when you try to compete with Apple or are critical of their unfair practices."

What's really interesting about all this, though, and straight-up bizarre, is Apple's justification for killing Epic's dev account. Basically, Apple doesn't trust Epic not to hose them around in the future, a position it says is justified «by a litany of public attacks on Apple's policies, compliance plan, and business model» fired