Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) After both mobile app platforms removed Google’s popular Battle Royale title from their stores over direct payment issues. “Data-reactid =” 19 “>” Fortnite “developer Epic Games sets both? Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) After both mobile app platforms removed the company from the popular battle royale title from their stores over direct payment issues.
The Epic lawsuit said Apple has grown into a “behemoth seeking to control markets, block competition and discourage innovation,” according to CNET.
“Apple is bigger, more powerful, more entrenched and more degrading than Iron Man monopolies. Apple’s size and reach are far greater than those of any technology monopolist in history,” said the game developer.
In its lawsuit, Epic seeks “involuntary relief to allow fair competition in these two key markets that directly affect hundreds of millions of consumers and tens of thousands, if not more, of third-party app developers.”
Google, like Apple, is taking a 30% reduction in in-app billing. While the cut is probably not as detrimental to a large company as Epic, the large revenue stakes held by companies like Apple and Google have created massive barriers for indie game developers.
Emma Maassen, founder of Kitsune Games, said on Twitter that if companies took only 12% as Epic Games does on its store, their studio would not have to rely on crowdfunding to develop a new title. Other indie game developers were getting the same sentiment.
“Epic knows that gamers have proven that if you can get them angry enough and get the right hashtag for them, they can be effectively armed,” wrote Rebekah Valentine, senior staff writer at Gameindustry.biz.
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