Federal judge inclined to grant Epic Games motion to block Apple from hindering Unreal Engine – MarketWatch

A federal judge in California late Monday said she was “inclined” to grant Epic Games Inc.’s motion to prevent Apple Inc.
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from pulling its developer credentials from the App Store. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said during a hearing she viewed Epic’s request through the harm that would come to Epic’s games, as well as hundreds of games that use Epic’s Unreal Engine software, considered crucial in the creation of 3-D graphics. Her decision in the matter is viewed as an early test in a lawsuit Epic filed this month following Apple’s decision to jettison ‘Fortnite’ from the popular App Store. Epic claimed the iPhone maker’s operations violate antitrust rules, which has led Microsoft Corp.
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Spotify Technology Inc.
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and others to voice their support of Epic. In a separate filing, Epic argued Apple’s threat to block its developer account would harm numerous game developers from using Unreal Engine.