Friday, August 14th 2020

Fortnite Gets Kicked Out From Google and Apple App Stores, Epic Games Files a Lawsuit

Today, Epic Games has decided to file a lawsuit against both Apple and Google after both companies removed Fortnite form their platform app stores (Google Play and Apple App Store). Firstly, Apple has decided to remove the Fortnite app to form its App Store because the game violated the company's policy that all in-game payments must go through the Apple App Store system, instead of them being processed directly. That means that Apple can also apply its 30% cut on all the payments made in-game. After Apple has revoked the Fortnite app, Epic Games has decided to file a lawsuit that aims to fight the company's monopoly and make the iOS platform more developer-friendly. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that Epic will not seek or accept any special deal that Apple may offer, but rather wants to fight for all developers.

Just hours after Apple decided to pull the Fortnite game from its App Store, Google has also removed the game from its Google Play Store. Google's Play Store policy about in-app payments says that all games must use Google Play in-app billing if they want to process payments, so Fortnite was pulled from it as well. In light of that move, Epic Games has also filed a lawsuit against Google on the same terms. The company wants to fight both Apple and Google in court and make them be more developer-friendly, especially Apple. We have to wait and see how the case progresses. Being that Apple is almost a $2 trillion company, it can surely afford lots of good lawyers, just as Google will. We want to express our support for Epic Games for going in the right direction, as we do need more open ecosystems.
Sources: The Verge (Google lawsuit), The Verge (Apple lawsuit)
Add your own comment

130 Comments on Fortnite Gets Kicked Out From Google and Apple App Stores, Epic Games Files a Lawsuit

#126
bug
AquinusThey probably should though because it's used as a mechanism to make up for the fact that the game is "free". The issue is that it's not free for Valve, Apple, and Google to maintain their services to make said game available. So a free game with DLC that doesn't take a cut of in-game purchases means zero revenue for services (like the App Store and Google Play Store,) that the game is taking full advantage of.
The problem as I see it, is making games available is basically running a hosting service. We've had that for years, with CDNs and whatnot and I hardly think running that comes is worth 30% of everything that moves.
And if you're thinking SteamWorks, Google Play Services and such, APIs are charged by usage/traffic already.

And again, let the courts decide, that's why we have them.
Posted on Reply
#127
Aquinus
Resident Wat-man
bugThe problem as I see it, is making games available is basically running a hosting service. We've had that for years, with CDNs and whatnot and I hardly think running that comes is worth 30% of everything that moves.
It's more than just hosting though. It's not just a S3 bucket.
Posted on Reply
#128
bug
AquinusIt's more than just hosting though. It's not just a S3 bucket.
It's reviewing and hosting. Anything else I'm missing?
Posted on Reply
#129
AusWolf
bugThe problem as I see it, is making games available is basically running a hosting service. We've had that for years, with CDNs and whatnot and I hardly think running that comes is worth 30% of everything that moves.
And if you're thinking SteamWorks, Google Play Services and such, APIs are charged by usage/traffic already.

And again, let the courts decide, that's why we have them.
With this train of thought, we could contest rent, taxes, insurance premiums, credit card interests, food prices, basically everything, but all of it would be irrelevant. We have to pay for what we use, that's it.
Posted on Reply
#130
bug
AusWolfWith this train of thought, we could contest rent, taxes, insurance premiums, credit card interests, food prices, basically everything, but all of it would be irrelevant. We have to pay for what we use, that's it.
I'm pretty sure most of what you listed has been litigated already ;)
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
Jun 3rd, 2024 10:21 EDT change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts