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The maker of “Fortnite” has asked a California judge for the second time to restore its popular video game to Apple Inc. devices
The Wall Street Journal reports that Epic Games Inc. filed a motion on Saturday (September 5) for a preliminary injunction against the Cupertino, California-based tech giant, reiterating allegations it made last month when it accused Apple of violations. antitrust when he removed “Fortnite” from the App Store. Google has also removed the game from Google Play.
The two tech companies took action after Epic introduced an in-game payment system to avoid the 30 percent fee that certain developers must pay companies for in-app purchases.
In a court filing, Epic said that of its 350 million registered Fortnite players, 116 million have accessed the survival shooter game through Apple’s iOS operating system, the WSJ reported. Of those players, Epic said that 63 percent only play “Fortnite” this way.
“Apple has driven an engagement in the ‘Fortnite’ community,” Epic said in its presentation.
Last month, US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Northern District of California ruled that Apple cannot prevent the game creator from accessing the tools of the Unreal Engine, a popular game engine developed by Epic that is used to create 3-D games on Apple platforms. . At the same time, the court denied the North Carolina game maker’s motion to restore its Fortnite game on the App Store.
Florian Mueller, an independent analyst in Munich focused on antitrust issues, told the newspaper that the judge is not expected to rule in Epic’s favor on his latest application.
“Epic’s renewed push for the same as last month will likely result in the same mixed failure again,” Mueller told the newspaper.
That decision and Epic’s new filing over the weekend comes ahead of a hearing scheduled for Sept. 28 on its broader case of whether Apple’s methods of operating the App Store are anti-competitive.
Apple and Google insist that the fees are necessary because of the services the stores provide, including user security and privacy. Apple has also said that its 30 percent commission is not unusual and matches the same amount that most other app markets charge.
The fight started in August when Epic said Apple planned to cancel its account with the tech giant’s mega-popular App Store. Epic alleged that the action was in retaliation for the lawsuit it filed against the tech giant.
“The continued loss of ‘Fortnite’ as a gathering place for users across all platforms will lead Epic customers to defect,” Epic said in its presentation on Friday.
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NEW PYMNTS DATA: STUDY HOW WE BUY – SEPTEMBER 2020
the How We Shop Report, a PYMNTS collaboration with PayPal, aims to understand how consumers of all ages and incomes are shifting to shopping and paying online amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research is based on a series of studies conducted since March, in which more than 16,000 consumers were surveyed on how their shopping habits and payment preferences are changing as the crisis continues. This report focuses on our latest survey of 2,163 respondents and examines how their increased appetite for online commerce and contactless digital methods such as QR codes, contactless cards, and digital wallets, is poised to shape the post-pandemic economy.
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