On Thursday morning, the Department of Justice and 17 state attorneys general filed a massive lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of monopolistic smartphone practices. Meanwhile, Epic Games-the maker of Fortnite-has been accusing Apple's iOS App Store of antitrust violations for years as part of a lengthy and arduous legal battle.

Epic is not mentioned by name in the 88-page lawsuit but can be seen ringing familiarly across long stretches of discussion over anticompetitive practices under the App Store.

"Apple often enforces its App Store rules arbitrarily," the suit says. "And it frequently uses App Store rules and restrictions to punish and restrain developers that take advantage of technologies that threaten to disrupt, disintermediate, compete with, or erode Apple's monopoly power."

Epic's chief gripe with the App Store, however, is that it forces developers to give Apple 30% of in-app purchases. And unlike Android devices, iPhones don't support sideloading; meaning Apple has control over any app in its App Store. For nearly a decade, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has been a vocal critic of the revenue share, which he believes amounts to monopolistic and predatory treatment of smaller firms. In 2020, Epic made it possible for Fortnite players to pay Epic directly, rather than giving a cut to Apple — then, Apple removed Epic from the App Store, and now, four years later, we’re still watching the two companies duke it out in various legal proceedings.

While a judge at the time decided that Apple can't block apps from routing users to alternative payment methods, the iPhone manufacturer was nevertheless ultimately determined not to be a monopoly.

Given rulings that have often favored Apple in the past, it's surprising this lawsuit falls in with some of Epic's complaints.

While Apple has lowered the amount of tax it confiscates from a subset of developers, Apple still gouges 30 percent from most app-makers," the lawsuit claims. "Apple also rakes in significant and growing revenue by paying developers to assist users in locating their apps in the App Store-an activity, for decades, Apple explained to developers was one of the main reasons they paid a 30 percent tax in the first place.

Epic isn't the only mammoth firm that has battled Apple. In January, as developers prepared for the implementation of the European Union's new Digital Markets Act (DMA), Spotify also entered the fray, characterizing Apple's plan to comply as a "shakedown" and "a complete and total farce." And in March, Apple was hit with a €1.84 billion fine for violating EU antitrust rules in the market for music streaming services.

On Thursday, the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) — which counts Epic Games, Spotify, Deezer, Proton and many other companies among its ranks — released a statement in support of the DOJ's move against Apple.
"Today's action by the Department of Justice takes a tough stand against Apple's stranglehold on the mobile app ecosystem, which squashes competition and hurts American consumers and developers," Rick VanMeter, the executive director of CAF said. The DOJ complaint details Apple's long history of illegal conduct-by abusing their App Store guidelines and developer agreements to drive up prices, seize exorbitant fees, degrade user experiences, and strangle competition. The DOJ joins regulators around the world who have recognized the many harms of Apple's abusive behavior and are working to address it.

Epic Games declined TechCrunch’s request to comment. Sweeney, who is usually vocal about these issues, has also been reticent on the matter.

“I’ll be off Twitter antitrust commentary between now and the end of my testimony in the Australian Epic v Apple and Google trial in Melbourne,” Sweeney posted, alongside a photo he took in Melbourne.