Fortnite developer Epic is suing Apple and Google after both pulled Epic’s hit game from their app stores over direct-payment disputes. As of right now, neither are allowing users to download and install Fortnite on phones through their digital marketplaces.
At the heart of the debate is whether Epic has the right to include a direct-payments service in its Fortnite app, circumventing Apple’s and Google’s payments systems and the up to 30% charge Apple and Google levy on each transaction, reported The Washington Post.
Epic’s lawsuit alleges that Apple has become a “behemoth seeking to control markets, block competition and stifle innovation.”
“Apple is bigger, more powerful, more entrenched and more pernicious than monopolies of yesteryear,” Epic says in the suit. “Apple’s size and reach far exceeds that of any technology monopolist in history.”
Epic’s lawsuit against Google attacks the company for abandoning its “don’t be evil” motto.
“In 1998, Google was founded as an exciting young company with a unique motto: “Don’t Be Evil”,” reads the lawsuit’s preliminary statement. “Twenty-two years later, Google has relegated its motto to nearly an afterthought, and is using its size to do evil upon competitors, innovators, customers, and users in a slew of markets it has grown to monopolize.”
Apple earlier Thursday said it chose to remove Fortnite from its App Store because the game violated guidelines Apple says it applies equally to every developer and that are designed to keep the store safe.
“As a result their Fortnite app has been removed from the store,” Apple said in a statement, adding that it’ll work with Epic to resolve the issue. “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.”
Google also cited rule-breaking by Epic as the reason it removed Fortnite from its digital marketplace. Consumers can still download the game on Android phones using other app stores, such as the Galaxy Store for Samsung devices.
“While Fortnite remains available on Android, we can no longer make it available on Play because it violates our policies,” a Google spokesman said. “However, we welcome the opportunity to continue our discussions with Epic and bring Fortnite back to Google Play.”
Full Content: CNET
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