Next week’s free Epic Games Store title has been announced.
Apple’s antitrust suit is a silver lining for Epic Games
21.03.2024 - 19:27 / techcrunch.com / Tim Sweeney
The Department of Justice and 17 state attorneys general filed a massive lawsuit against Apple on Thursday morning, accusing the company of monopolistic smartphone practices. Meanwhile, Fortnite maker Epic Games has been accusing Apple’s iOS App Store of antitrust violations for years in an ongoing, arduous legal battle.
Epic is never named explicitly in the 88-page lawsuit, but the gaming company’s complaints are echoed across extensive discussion of the App Store’s anticompetitive practices.
“Apple often enforces its App Store rules arbitrarily,” the suit says. “And it frequently uses App Store rules and restrictions to penalize and restrict developers that take advantage of technologies that threaten to disrupt, disintermediate, compete with, or erode Apple’s monopoly power.”
Epic’s core complaint about the App Store is that developers must cede 30% of in-app purchases to Apple. And unlike Android devices, iPhones do not allow for sideloading apps, meaning that Apple has control over any app in its App Store. For almost a decade, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has been a staunch critic of the revenue cut, which he thinks is monopolistic and predatory toward smaller companies. In 2020, Epic made it possible for Fortnite players to pay Epic directly, rather than giving a cut to Apple — then, Apple removed Epic from the App Store, and now, four years later, we’re still watching the two companies duke it out in various legal proceedings.
While a judge ruled at the time that Apple can’t prevent apps from routing users to alternative payment methods, the iPhone maker was ultimately not deemed a monopoly.
Given past rulings in Apple’s favor, it’s surprising that this lawsuit is aligned with some of Epic’s grievances.
“While Apple has reduced the tax it collects from a subset of developers, Apple still extracts 30 percent from many app makers,” the suit says. “Apple also generates substantial and increasing revenue by charging developers to help users find their apps in the App Store—something that, for years, Apple told developers was part of the reason they paid a 30 percent tax in the first place.”
Epic isn’t the only large company that has faced off against Apple. In January, as developers prepared for the European Union’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA) to take effect, Spotify also stepped into the ring, calling Apple’s compliance plan “extortion” and a “complete and total farce.” Then in March, Apple was fined €1.84 billion for breaching antitrust rules in the market for music streaming services.
On Thursday, the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) — which includes Epic Games, Spotify, Deezer, Proton and other companies — released a statement in favor of the DOJ’s action against Apple.
“With today’s announcement, the
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Top Authors
Popular Topics
videogameschronicle.com
04.04.2024 / 16:09
Next week’s free Epic Games Store title has been revealed
gamerant.com
04.04.2024 / 15:51
Epic Games Store Reveals Free Game for April 11
The Epic Games Store free game for April 11 is Ghostrunner. Epic Games Store users are treated to new free games on a weekly basis, with the offerings rotating every Thursday at 10:00am CT. The Epic Games Store didn't break from this established pattern with the latest free game offerings, with users able to claim two new freebies right now.
gamerant.com
02.04.2024 / 19:12
April 15 is Going to Be a Sad Day for Xbox Game Pass Horror Fans
Xbox Game Pass has confirmed all the games leaving the service on April 15, and unfortunately for fans of the genre, multiple horror games are on the chopping block. Games are removed from Xbox Game Pass every couple of weeks or so, with the departure announcements often coupled with the Wave 1 and Wave 2 new addition reveals to help soften the blow for subscribers.
screenrant.com
02.04.2024 / 15:09
April Is A Sad Month For Xbox Game Pass Subscribers
While Xbox Game Pass is expanding with several new titles in April, the month is also a sad occasion for horror fans as several spooky games are set to leave the service. As Microsoft continues to support its subscription model with new additions every month, making room for some of the latest releases requires that older games be removed. It's all part of the Game Pass cycle but fortunately, enthusiasts for all things scary still have some time to check some of the best horror games ever made.
gamerant.com
31.03.2024 / 01:05
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Fan Creates Variant Concepts For The Game's Movie Suits
A talented fan of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2has created variant concepts for most of the movie suits from the game. The movie suits are often some of the most popular suits in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and these concepts would add a huge amount of variety to the current lineup.
screenrant.com
29.03.2024 / 17:39
Epic Games Reveals 2 Free Games for April (Including RPG Everyone Needs In Their Library)
The Epic Games Store has announced the latest two free games it will be giving away in April. As is the case with every free giveaway, the games offered will be completely free through the Epic Games Store until 11:00 AM ET on the following Thursday, when another free game will become available instead.
gamerant.com
28.03.2024 / 15:29
Epic Games Store Officially Reveals 2 Free Games for April 4
Every Thursday at 10 am CT, the Epic Games Store rotates its free game selection and confirms what will be coming the next week. This means Epic Games Store users can no longer claim Call of the Wild: The Angler or Invincible Presents: Atom Eve, but they can claim Islets until April 4. At that time, Islets will rotate out of EGS and the service will add The Outer Worlds and Thief, two big pick-ups for the service.
gamerant.com
28.03.2024 / 03:18
Possible Epic Games Store Free Game for April 4 Leaks Online
The first free Epic Games Store game for April 2024 will be The Outer Worlds, according to a new report from a credible leaker. The critically acclaimed RPG was already free for Epic Games Store users fairly recently, though many might have missed out on that freebie due to the extremely tight window of opportunity to claim it.
eurogamer.net
25.03.2024 / 11:33
EU takes aim at Apple, Google, Meta non-compliance
Apple and other tech giants face another legal fight — this time from the European Commission, which is now investigating the iPhone maker's alleged non-compliance with EU rules.
tech.hindustantimes.com
24.03.2024 / 20:23
Apple antitrust suit mirrors strategy that beat Microsoft, but tech industry has changed
The U.S. government's antitrust lawsuit against Apple draws on the watershed 1998 case that broke Microsoft's stranglehold on desktop software, but that may prove to be an imperfect blueprint for addressing smartphone competition.
gameranx.com
22.03.2024 / 12:05
Here’s How Apple’s US Antitrust Suit Affects The Video Game Industry
Apple was just hit with an antitrust by the US Justice Department.
eurogamer.net
21.03.2024 / 19:41
Apple facing major antitrust lawsuit from US government
Apple is facing another antitrust lawsuit — this time from the US government.