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posted by Fnord666 on Friday August 14 2020, @02:19PM   Printer-friendly
from the breaking-the-rules dept.

Fortnite maker sues Apple after removal of game from App Store:

Apple Inc on Thursday removed popular video game "Fortnite" from its App Store for violating the company's in-app payment guidelines, prompting developer Epic Games to file a federal lawsuit challenging the iPhone maker's rules.

Apple cited a direct payment feature rolled out on the Fortnite app earlier on Thursday as the violation.

Epic sued in U.S. court seeking no money from Apple but rather an injunction that would end many of the company's practices related to the App Store, which is the only way to distribute native software onto most iPhones.

[...] Apple takes a cut of between 15% and 30% for most app subscriptions and payments made inside apps, though there are some exceptions for companies that already have a credit card on file for iPhone customers if they also offer an in-app payment that would benefit Apple. Analysts believe games are the biggest contributor to spending inside the App Store, which is in turn the largest component of Apple's $46.3 billion-per-year services segment.

In a statement, Apple said Fortnite had been removed because Epic had launched the payment feature with the "express intent of violating the App Store guidelines" after having had apps in the store for a decade.

"The fact that their (Epic) 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," Apple said in a statement.

[...] Epic's lawsuit, however, argues that app distribution and in-app payments for Apple devices constitute their own distinct market for anti-competition purposes because Apple users rarely leave its "sticky" ecosystem, according to Epic's filing.

[...] Google also removed "Fortnite" from its Play Store.

"However, we welcome the opportunity to continue our discussions with Epic and bring Fortnite back to Google Play," Google spokesman Dan Jackson said in a statement. Jackson said Epic had violated a rule requiring developers to use Google's in-app billing system for products within video games.

Recently:
(2020-07-22) Microsoft Tells Congress That iOS App Store is Anticompetitive
(2020-06-24) Apple Gives Thumbs Up to Hey Email App After Update Rejection
(2020-06-17) EU Launches Two Antitrust Investigations Into Apple Business Practices
(2020-03-07) Apple's New App Store Policies Fight Spam and Abuse but Also Allow Ads in Notifications


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by ilsa on Friday August 14 2020, @02:46PM (6 children)

    by ilsa (6082) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 14 2020, @02:46PM (#1036544)

    At what point will Apple and Google be considered a duopoly that is abusing their position in the marketplace?

    The amount of money they suck from the market grossly outweighs the actual value they provide.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2020, @03:06PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2020, @03:06PM (#1036552)

    Considered by who? US regulators won't care, European ones might.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Unixnut on Friday August 14 2020, @05:12PM

      by Unixnut (5779) on Friday August 14 2020, @05:12PM (#1036610)

      > European ones might.

      But they can do sweet F.A about it. You can see it with the Fines they slapped Google/Amazon with. The ink on the ruling was not even dry yet, and the US was threatening Tariffs etc... against the EU for daring to even go down this route.

      Hence why the US still violates the GDPR (and other EU laws on privacy) with impunity. Apart from making a bit of noise, the EU can't actually do much without incurring the wrath of the US.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2020, @03:09PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2020, @03:09PM (#1036554)

    Perhaps the reason we have Android is because Apple had such a sweet deal G could not resist.

    If Apple did not have the app store tax, would Android exist?

    Probably, because it still gives them ownership of the customer's access device and hence an inside track on the customer's actions.

    The issue here may be where to draw the line of what selling a device or service says you can say about how the new owner can use what they bought.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2020, @05:45PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2020, @05:45PM (#1036633)

    Probably about the same time Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Marand on Saturday August 15 2020, @12:30AM (1 child)

    by Marand (1081) on Saturday August 15 2020, @12:30AM (#1036851) Journal

    At what point will Apple and Google be considered a duopoly that is abusing their position in the marketplace?

    That seems to be the outcome Epic is after here. The entire thing appears to be carefully planned and timed to add fuel to the anti-trust fire:

    • Fortnite hadn't been on the Play store for years because Epic pulled it to avoid playing Google's game. Then, a few months ago, Epic suddenly put Fortnite back on the Play store.
    • Currently, Google and Apple are being heavily scrutinised over anti-trust issues and complaints.
    • Epic suddenly decides to ignore both companies' IAP rules and advertises this loudly to get maximum attention
    • Apple, as expected, removes them from the store that same day
    • Within an hour of removal, Epic has a rebuttal video mocking Apple's iconic 1984 commercial posted and a lawsuit prepped.
    • A few hours later, Google follows Apple's lead and removes the game from the Play store.
    • Epic files another lawsuit almost immediately.

    Epic wanted the game to get pulled and was ready for it. It waited until everyone's already taking a hard look at the two companies for abusing their duopoly status, goaded both companies into doing the predictable thing within hours of each other, and then fired back. They're showing that Apple and Google control the mobile space and are both abusing their duopoly status at the detriment of others.

    There's a lot of "Epic is being greedy" and "wow they're fighting Google and Apple? How stupid can they be?" commentary elsewhere online, but I don't believe people are giving this enough thought. There's a lot of well-deserved distaste for Epic, so a lot of people are just jumping on the "lol fuck Epic" bandwagon without thinking through what's happening here. They had this whole thing ready to go beforehand, and were ready for it when Apple and Google did the predictable thing. This is calculated to make the two companies look like an anti-competitive duopoly.

    I don't like Epic as a company, but I hope this gambit pays off because the mobile space is fucked up and something needs to change. We have phones more powerful than some (most?) desktops (my current phone has 12GB of RAM, for fuck's sake) and yet they're barely better than toys because the Apple/Google duopoly prevents us from owning our own hardware and using it as we wish. This is especially concerning because hardware improvements are steadily pushing us toward the possibility of most traditional PCs (maybe not high-end workstations) disappearing in favour of small, powerful, portable hardware (likely with some kind of convergence feature like docking for larger screens and better input devices). With open platforms that wouldn't be such a bad idea, but when that hardware is only driven by locked-down software that can dictate how and when we use it, it becomes a frightening thought.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @12:53PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @12:53PM (#1037052)

      But Epics tactics only worked because Google and Apple are a duopoly, acting as expected abusing their position. Epic has just delivered a big blow on an ongoing campaign against the "Store" monopolies. This thing has been going on for months, I think it started with some social media app thing (I don't own a smartphone or use social media, so excuse my vagueness).

      Apples practice with first iTunes now App Store has always been illegal and anticompetitive in the EU. They might avoid paying taxes, but this one they'll lose. Look Microsoft got a slap on the wrist because they had a pre-installed browser. They forced Microsoft to share protocol info with the Samba project. If this doesn't turn out opening up atleast Apples platform (Googles is more open, so they might go free), there is certainly some corruption going on that would explain why nothing has been done about the issue for the last decade or more.