[ad_1]
- Epic Games is currently involved in a highly publicized legal battle with Apple over Fortnite, which is currently unavailable on iPhone, iPad, and Mac due to Epic App Store violations.
- Epic now has to deal with a problem much bigger than the antitrust action against Apple. The United States government is allegedly investigating how various American companies handle the security of personal data, including Epic.
- Chinese conglomerate Tencent has majority or minority stakes in these companies, including a 40% stake in Epic.
Epic Games has started a battle that it knows it can’t win, at least not yet. The company quietly updated the Fortnite iPhone and iPad app with code that enabled Epic’s payment option for in-app purchases. Apple quickly banned the app, and Epic later unleashed a public relations campaign against the iPhone maker while suing Apple and Google on anti-competitive grounds.
In the days that followed, we learned that Apple went even further to ban the app, telling Epic it would revoke their developer accounts for both of them. Fortnite and the Unreal Engine. Epic tried to stop this with a temporary restraining order, but lost the battle in Fortnite. The judge said those were self-inflicted injuries that Epic could fix on its own if it wanted to. But the verdict also noted that the Unreal Engine should not be affected. Epic continued its public relations campaign, claiming that Apple was the only culprit and making it clear that it would not budge. Apple revoked the Fortnite developer account not blinking, and now the game cannot be played on iPhone, iPad and Mac. A new hearing on the case is scheduled for September 28, and the fate of both Fortnite e Unreal are still up for grabs.
Turns out, the Apple lawsuit isn’t even Epic’s most pressing issue right now. The company could have a bigger adversary than that in the form of the US government.
There is no question that there is some merit to Epic’s antitrust suit targeting Apple if you remove all the PR smoke and lies that Epic sells. App Store rules may need to be changed, including the tax Apple receives on digital purchases. And the US government could have a say in all of that at some point in the future, and that kind of decision could affect other digital stores as well, including Google Play and game stores on consoles.
But before we get to that, Epic will have to take on the government for a different reason: China.
Tech conglomerate Tencent has a 40% stake in Epic Games and owns Riot Games. It also has stakes in other US companies, including Activision Blizzard, Discord, Reddit, and Snap. Bloomberg reports that the Trump administration has now asked companies to provide information about the security of user data.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) sent letters to Epic, Riot, and Blizzard, asking them about security protocols that involve the personal data of American customers.
This is just another escalation in Trump’s war against China following the administration’s moves against popular Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat. The latter is also a creation of Tencent.
Since its inception, CFIUS has been investigating foreign acquisitions of US companies for national security risks. The committee has the authority to examine total acquisitions and minority interests and make recommendations to the president to block and cancel deals.
“When you are talking about massive amounts of data, there is probably something the committee needs to consider,” Aimen Mir said. Bloomberg. Mir led CFIUS reviews at the Treasury Department when he was deputy assistant secretary for investment security. “The question then is whether the risk is high enough to justify the separation of the agreements.” He also said the committee has traditionally considered the protection of sensitive data like health, financial and government employee information, but is now expanding its scope.
It is not clear what may happen in the future. Bloomberg Intelligence speculates that Tencent is at risk of a forced divestment similar to ByteDance’s TikTok. Bloomberg says Tencent’s US assets could be worth at least $ 22 billion. The Trump administration urged tech companies to consider buying the US side of the TikTok business, with Oracle pioneering after Microsoft pulled out. ByteDance sued the administration.
The Commerce Department is expected to announce more information on the extent of the WeChat and TikTok restrictions on September 20, with Reuters already reports that the Trump administration is about to block US downloads of both apps.
Regardless of how long Epic’s fight against Apple takes, Epic might have to face the Tencent issue long before then. the Reuters The report notes that the action against WeChat and TikTok will not affect Tencent’s other businesses, including its online gaming operations.
Chris Smith began writing about gadgets as a hobby, and before he knew it, he was sharing his views on technology with readers around the world. Whenever he doesn’t write about gadgets, he miserably fails to stay away from them, though he desperately tries. But that is not necessarily a bad thing.
[ad_2]
