'Fortnite' developer Epic Games files antitrust complaint against Apple in EU
Epic Games has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Union against Apple, continuing the two companies' dispute over the App Store.
A still from Epic's parody of Apple's '1984' Super Bowl commercial
As North Dakota rejected an anti-Apple bill drafted by an Epic Games lobbyist, the "Fortnite" developer has taken its complaints to the European Union. Despite being in dispute with both Apple and Google, Epic Games has singled out Apple for the complaint, which it says has eliminated competition.
"What's at stake here is the very future of mobile platforms." says Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney in a company blog post about the complaint. "Consumers have the right to install apps from sources of their choosing and developers have the right to compete in a fair marketplace."
"We will not stand idly by and allow Apple to use its platform dominance to control what should be a level digital playing field," he continued. "It's bad for consumers, who are paying inflated prices due to the complete lack of competition among stores and in-app payment processing. And it's bad for developers, whose very livelihoods often hinge on Apple's complete discretion as to who to allow on the iOS platform, and on which terms."
The Epic Games blog posts says that the company "has faced and been harmed by Apple's anti-competitive restrictions." It states that Apple's removing "Fortnite" from the App Store was retaliation for Epic Games giving users a way to pay the games company directly.
Google is not mentioned in the blog post or the EU complaint, despite "Fortnite" having been removed from the Google Play Store at the same time, and for the same reason, as Apple.
The post also implies that Epic Games has been forced into this dispute following Apple's actions, but does not mention that CEO Tim Sweeney has admitted spending months on a "battle plan" beforehand.
Epic Games does note that the European Commission is already investigating what the "Fortnite" developer calls "Apple's abusive conduct." Epic Games also says that it is "simply seeking fair access and competition," rather than damages.
Apple has not responded to the EU antitrust filing. However, it has recently commented that "Epic's problem is entirely self-inflicted and is in their power to resolve."
In the US, the dispute between Apple and Epic Games will go to trial in May 2021.
A still from Epic's parody of Apple's '1984' Super Bowl commercial
As North Dakota rejected an anti-Apple bill drafted by an Epic Games lobbyist, the "Fortnite" developer has taken its complaints to the European Union. Despite being in dispute with both Apple and Google, Epic Games has singled out Apple for the complaint, which it says has eliminated competition.
"What's at stake here is the very future of mobile platforms." says Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney in a company blog post about the complaint. "Consumers have the right to install apps from sources of their choosing and developers have the right to compete in a fair marketplace."
"We will not stand idly by and allow Apple to use its platform dominance to control what should be a level digital playing field," he continued. "It's bad for consumers, who are paying inflated prices due to the complete lack of competition among stores and in-app payment processing. And it's bad for developers, whose very livelihoods often hinge on Apple's complete discretion as to who to allow on the iOS platform, and on which terms."
The Epic Games blog posts says that the company "has faced and been harmed by Apple's anti-competitive restrictions." It states that Apple's removing "Fortnite" from the App Store was retaliation for Epic Games giving users a way to pay the games company directly.
Google is not mentioned in the blog post or the EU complaint, despite "Fortnite" having been removed from the Google Play Store at the same time, and for the same reason, as Apple.
The post also implies that Epic Games has been forced into this dispute following Apple's actions, but does not mention that CEO Tim Sweeney has admitted spending months on a "battle plan" beforehand.
Epic Games does note that the European Commission is already investigating what the "Fortnite" developer calls "Apple's abusive conduct." Epic Games also says that it is "simply seeking fair access and competition," rather than damages.
Apple has not responded to the EU antitrust filing. However, it has recently commented that "Epic's problem is entirely self-inflicted and is in their power to resolve."
In the US, the dispute between Apple and Epic Games will go to trial in May 2021.
Comments
Such a low life.
What I would like to see are crates and the like being banned from in app purchases.
According to the judge, Epic is not trying to get back on the App Store because it continues to choose to not comply with Apple's terms anymore. They aren't losing any money due to Apple's fault, as the judge said, they are losing money because of Epic's own fault.
If Apple has monopoly power with a large fraction of the phone market, then Fortnight with 350 million users has monopoly power in the market for massive multiple-player real-time games. I look forward to developer suing Epic for access to Fortnight using the same arguments Epic is using. Too bad Apple isn't a scummy company or else they'd already have a puppet in place to do this.
You might say, "aren't the owners of private companies protected information?" It can be, but it doesn't have to be. Ownership of billion dollar companies usually leaks out or is simply stated by the owners. In Epic's case, we know Tencent, which is based in Communist China, owns 40% of Epic. Although last year Sony bought a 1.4% stake in Epic. I presume Sweeney owns the other 58%. So you can ask Sony or Tencent what they think of Sweeney's actions.
In the UK, the ownership of private companies had to be made public back in 2016. And I didn't hear of any collapse of the British economy. I think it was done to help prevent money laundering. Maybe the US should consider doing the same thing.
What a load of crap! Apple's decision to limit software installation only affects Apple's platform and that's only because that platform only exists on Apple's hardware.
Any other openly (free or fee) licensed mobile platform would never be able to do such a thing, because that would then give the platform developer control over what the device is capable of doing and no hardware manufacturer would stand for it.
Would Apple be within its rights to raise a disclaimer window before a side-loaded app is installed warning the user that the security, privacy, and functionality of the app has not been vetted and cannot be guaranteed by Apple? Apple already removes tons of apps that break the security rules by phoning home without permission and other atrocities.
https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/309674-epic-grudgingly-releases-fortnite-for-android-on-google-play-store <--
I'm surprised Epic hasn't sued Google over Android's treatment of third party app stores and also because of Google's own Play Store. It says Google is behaving illegally, but won't sue them. If it wins the lawsuit with Apple, is it planning to sue Google next for doing similar things?
Many developers, including Epic, wouldn't be around if Apple hadn't released the iPhone. Epic is just getting greedy.
whatever they want to and nobody can force them to sell something they don’t want to.