Away from the field shooting virtual, it is another kind of battle of Epic Games, the publisher of Fortnite, and Apple and Google. The two american giants have withdrawn the video game ultrapopulaire, Thursday, August 13, their app stores, after that Epic Games has attempted to circumvent the systems of payment of commissions owed to two us companies.
The developers have to pay to download platforms apps, the App Store and the Google Play Store, a commission of 30 % on transactions of users. But Epic Games has set up an alternative payment method, which allows the players to save money by bypassing the integrated systems by default, and mandatory. “Today, Epic Games has made the unfortunate decision to break the rules of the App Store, that apply to all developers and are designed to ensure that the store is secure for our users,” said Apple to the Agence France-Presse. “As a result, Fortnite has been removed from the store. “
Epic Games is pursuing Apple in court
The followers of the video game using devices of apple will continue to play, but they will no longer receive updates through the App Store. In response, Epic Games has decided to sue Apple in court. The studio accused the group california abuse of dominant position and practices ” anti-competitive “. “Apple is bigger, more powerful, more entrenched and more pernicious than the monopolies of yesteryear,” says the complaint filed Thursday in federal court.
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Approximately 350 million people have played Fortnite since 2017, the year of the release of this shooting game and survival became a star, a competitive e-sport. Epic Games has asked the court to force Apple to change its rules to all application developers.
Apple has become ” a monster “, according to Epic Games
“Apple imposes restrictions on unreasonable and unlawful to monopolize the two markets,” says the complaint of the studio, which qualifies the commission of 30 % of ” tax slavery “. “Apple has become what he railed in the past. The monster who wants to control markets, to block competition and stifle innovation, ” details the document.
The manufacturer of the iPhone is in the crosshairs of many regulators and publishers of applications that are challenging the influence of the society on the App Store, the gateway to download the applications on its popular devices, from smartphones to tablets. Apple has defended itself against similar attacks in the past, explaining that the commissions were used to protect the apps and their users from hackers and scammers. Its percentage can be lowered to 15 % from the second year of a subscription.
Apple “is in the spotlight of the authorities”
The situation is different on the Google operating system, Android, which allows developers to offer their apps through various platforms. But “for the game publishers who choose to go through the Play Store, we have regulations consistent, which are fair to developers and to guarantee the security of the store to the users,” said Google to the Agence France-Presse. “Fortnite is still available on Android, but we can no longer offer it on Play because it violates our rules “, continues the group, said that he was willing to talk with the publisher so that the game can return.
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In bringing the case to court, Epic Games “test the temperature” at a time when Apple is under the spotlight of the authorities both in Washington and in Brussels about the bastion from the App Store, ” said Dan Ives, of Wedbush. The analyst thinks that the giant of Silicon Valley will win the game, as each time, even if he has to pay attention to the “cascading effects” with other developers, which will closely follow the battle.
The boss of Apple, and those of Amazon, Google and Facebook, have been interviewed in late July by a parliamentary committee on their practices vis-à-vis their competitors, that many elected officials consider anti-competitive. Apple is accused of being both judge and party on the App Store, since it manages the platform and also offers its own products.
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