Fortnite has been kicked off the App Store and the game's creator has responded with a trolling video that parodies Apple's iconic 1984 advert.
Epic Games and Apple are fighting after the Fortnite creator updated the game and let players buy in-game currency at a lower rate if they bought direct from them and bypassed Apple.
Apple takes a standard 30 percent cut of sales and labelled the move by Epic Games as "unfortunate step of violating the App Store guidelines".
One of Epic Games' responses is a video that parodies Apple's 1984 Super Bowl ad, directed by Ridley Scott, that evoked George Orwell's noted novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
"Epic Games has defied the App Store Monopoly," the company states in its video.
"In retaliation, Apple is blocking Fortnite from a billion devices. Join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming '1984'."
Minutes after Fortnite was removed from the store, Epic Games also launched an antitrust lawsuit it hopes will establish the App Store as a monopoly and see Apple punished accordingly.
The legal action again references the 1984 advertisement, claiming: "Apple has become what it once railed against: the behemoth seeking to control markets, block competition, and stifle innovation."
But Apple says Epic Games suddenly deciding to break the rules isn't fair to the smaller companies that abide by them.
"Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services," says Apple.
"Epic agreed to the App Store terms and guidelines freely and we're glad they've built such a successful business on the App Store. The fact that their business interests now lead them to push for a special arrangement does not change the fact that these guidelines create a level playing field for all developers and make the store safe for all users.
"We will make every effort to work with Epic to resolve these violations so they can return Fortnite to the App Store."
In early 2019 Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the company had hit 1.4 billion active users worldwide, with around 900 million of those using iPhones.
The iOS version is not the most popular version of Fortnite, but it's still said to generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue every month for Epic Games.
