Fortnite bans Apple and Google app stores – and developer Epic sacks

Fortnite developer Epic Games prosecuted Apple and Google after they both pulled Epic’s hit game from their app stores over disputes with direct payment. Currently, no users are allowed to download and install Fortnite on phones through their digital marketplaces.

At the heart of the debate is whether Epic has the right to include a direct payment service in its Fortnite app, to overhaul Apple’s and Google’s payment systems, and to charge up to 30% to Apple and Google on each transaction.

Epic’s lawsuit claims that Apple has become a “behemoth that seeks to control markets, block competition and discourage innovation.”

“Apple is bigger, more powerful, more entrenched and more humiliating than monopolies of the past,” Epic says in the suit. “Apple’s size and reach are greater than that of any monopolist in history.”

Epic’s lawsuit against Google accuses the tech giant of giving up its idealistic roots and says Android’s claim that it’s an open ecosystem is a “broken promise.”

“In 1998, Google was founded as an exciting young company with a unique motto: ‘Don’t Be Evil,'” reads the complaint. “Twenty years later, Google has shifted its motto to almost a backstory, using its greatness to harm competitors, innovators, customers, and users in an entire market that it has grown to monopolize.” Google declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Apple said earlier Thursday that it has chosen to remove Fortnite from its App Store because the game’s written guidelines Apple says apply equally to every developer and that are designed to keep the store safe.

“As a result, their Fortnite app has been removed from the store,” Apple said in a statement, adding that it will work with Epic to resolve the issue. “Epic has enabled a feature in their app that has not been reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent to violate the App Store’s guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to any developer who selling digital goods or services. “

Google also cited breach of rules by Epic as the reason it removed Fortnite from its digital marketplace. Consumers can still download the game on Android phones with other app stores, such as the Galaxy Store for Samsung devices.

“While Fortnite remains available on Android, we can no longer make it available on Play because it violates our policies,” a Google spokesman said. “However, we welcome the opportunity to continue our conversations with Epic and bring Fortnite back to Google Play.”

The decisions of Apple and Google to ban Fortnite from their respective app stores mark a dramatic escalation in the debate between the tech giants, the developers who create programs for their devices, and regulators who are interested in investigating it all. . Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android software together bring together almost every mobile device in the world. That influence has deterred the tech industry and the larger world economy, and helped bring companies to life like ride-sharing and delivery company Uber, game-maker Zynga and ByteDance’s social network TikTok.

But the company’s control over its respective platforms has drawn complaints from some developers who say Apple is forcing developers to pay commissions for many in-app purchases, with no alternative. And they complain Google is forcing partners to bundle and promote their own apps on their devices. Both companies are also accused of building in preference to their respective apps, instead of allowing fair competition.

Apple and Google claimed their developer guidelines to protect users and to ensure equal treatment from app makers, who have created millions of apps for both platforms combined. Critics of Apple and Google meanwhile say that the companies are too restrictive and that they take too large commission for trading on their platforms.

In the past year, legislators and regulators have begun to engage developers in this debate, by pushing Apple to justify its commission of up to 30% and its tight control over its platform, while also examining Google’s behavior.

Apple has responded in particular by addressing a study which commissioned it to say that its fees are equal to those of its peers, with the notable exception of Epic, which charges 12% fees for its game store.

“Apple’s commissions are comparable to or lower than commissions charged by the majority of our competitors,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said during a congressional hearing in July. “And they’s much lower than the 50% to 70% that software developers pay to distribute their work before we launch the App Store.”

The company is still being criticized for its fees, prompting music giant Spotify and other companies to lodge complaints with the European Union’s Competition Commission. The EU launched two investigations into Apple in June, focused on its App Store and their handling of the technology behind their Apple Pay payment service.

“It appears that Apple has been given a ‘gatekeeper’ role when it comes to distributing apps and content to users of Apple’s popular devices,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement at the time. “We need to make sure that Apple’s rules do not distort competition in markets where Apple competes with other app developers, such as its music streaming service Apple Music or Apple Books.”

Cook reiterated those concerns in his July statement to the U.S. Congress.

“After I started with 500 apps, the App Store today hosts more than 1.7 million – only 60 of which are Apple software,” Cook said. “Clearly, if Apple is a gatekeeper, what we have done is open the gate wider. We want to get every app we can on the store, and not keep it off.”

for the time being iOS users who have already downloaded Fortnite on their device still appear to be using the app fully, including the new in-game purchase approach.

A battle generous over payments

Epic preceded its public battle with Apple with a series of high-profile moves.

The company’s first step was to offer a discount for its hit Fortnite Battle Royale game, which brings together up to 100 people on a cartoon island with game simulations. There they fight until the last player stands (and thus wins the game). Fortnite’s design hit it big; the game is easy to understand but difficult to manage. The playful and vivid visuals, free of the blood and gore that is typical of most fighting games, make it more palatable for families and ancestors. And it’s free to download, with the only charges coming from “V-Bucks”, in-game tokens that players can use buy different cosmetic looks for characters.

On Thursday, Epic announced discounts of up to 20% permanently if players buy V-Bucks directly from Epic. But it chose to keep prices where they were when players buy through Apple’s or Google’s payment system. As a result, 1,000 V-Bucks will cost you $ 9.99 if you go through Apple’s or Google’s system, but only $ 7.99 directly from Epic.

“Currently, Apple and Google are charging a 30% fee when using Apple and Google payment options, and the drop of up to 20% does not apply,” Epic wrote in a blog post earlier Thursday. “If Apple or Google reduce their payment fees in the future, Epic will pass on the savings to you.”

Shortly afterwards, Apple removed Epic’s app from its store, prompting Epic to sue. Epic also posted a video online mimicking Apple’s famous Macintosh ad from 1984, this time accusing Apple of being the bad guy instead of the hero.

The video ended with a suggested hashtag, #FreeFortnite, that became the top trending item worldwide on Twitter within an hour after it was posted. In the US, Apple came second on the top trending list, with Epic in fifth place.

Epic problems

This is not the first time Epic has started a public fight with one of her peers. Back in 2018, Epic launched Fortnite for Android by asking people to download the game directly from their site, rather then via Google’s Play Store. The company confirmed to CNET that it would have done the same on iOS as it could have.

The game came to the Play Store in April, but Epic criticized Google’s attempts to warn Android users about the alleged threats posed by downloading Fortnite directly.

Spotify, which launched Apple’s EU investigation, applauded Epic’s case against Apple.

“Apple’s unfair practices have approached competitors and taken consumers away for too long,” a Spotify spokesman said in a statement. “The stakes for consumers and app developers large and small could not be higher and ensuring that the iOS platform works competitively and honestly is an urgent task with far-reaching implications.”

Epic’s also captured other public battles. At the end of 2018, it took over Valve, a popular game maker and developer of Steam’s online store, when it launched their competing Epic Games Store for PCs. The company promised lower commission fees for developers and started pay for exclusive rights to popular games like Metro: Exodus and Borderlands 3.

“A lot of these issues are areas where you will not satisfy anyone,” said Epic CEO Tim Sweeney in a 2019 interview. “The Epic Games Store exclusives have been controversial among the PC gaming community who have a lot of preference that everything is on Steam, yet it is by far the most powerful approach to guarantee the success of a new store.”

CNET’s Ry Crist, Joan E. Solsman and Sean Keane contributed to this report.

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