This past week, Blizzard revealed new Hero Talent Trees in a First Look at the new system coming with the The War Within expansion. Our Holy Paladin guide writer, Clarius, offers an early review of the Lightsmith Paladin Hero Talents for Holy and addresses why there might be a lot of frustration with the current design. First Look at Hero Talents in The War WithinHero Talents Overview
Fortnite Maker Epic Games Wins Antitrust Case Against Google Over Play Store Monopoly
12.12.2023 - 08:25 / gadgets.ndtv.com / Tim Sweeney
Fortnite maker Epic Games has prevailed in its high-profile antitrust trial over Alphabet's Google, which alleged the Play app store operated as an illegal monopoly, in a ruling that if it holds could upend the entire app store economy.
Jurors found for Epic on all counts, a court filing showed, after more than a month of trial in Epic's lawsuit, which accused Google of taking action to quash competitors and charge unduly high fees of up to 30 percent to app developers. The court in January will begin work on what remedies to implement.
The ruling marks a stunning defeat for Google, which alongside Apple operates one of the world's largest app stores. If the ruling holds, it has the potential to give developers more sway over how their apps are distributed and how they profit off them.
Google said it would appeal. "We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem," Wilson White, vice president of government affairs and public policy at Google, said in an emailed statement.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney on Monday cheered the ruling on social media site X, calling out "the Google Play monopoly."
Victory over Google! After 4 weeks of detailed court testimony, the California jury found against the Google Play monopoly on all counts. The Court's work on remedies will start in January. Thanks for everyone's support and faith! Free Fortnite! https://t.co/ITm4YBHCus
Lawyers for the two companies made their final arguments on Monday morning and the federal judge handed the case to the jury less than four hours earlier, with instructions that a decision must be unanimous.
Among Epic's allegations were that Google illegally ties together its Play store and billing service, meaning developers were required to use both to have their apps included in the store.
While the Play store represents a much smaller chunk of Google's revenue compared to its massively profitable search business, it is symbolically important as the central gatekeeper to billions of mobile phones and tablets.
Google may be compelled to allow for more app stores on Android-powered devices and lose revenue from the cut it takes out of in-app purchases.
"(Today's verdict) proves that Google's app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovation," Epic said in a statement on its website.
Google accused of deleting messages
"The trial has shone a very bright light on what Google has done to impair the competition," a lawyer for Epic, Gary Bornstein, told jurors earlier in the day, adding Google "systematically blocks" alternative app stores on the company's Play store.
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14.12.2023 / 15:41
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14.12.2023 / 14:53
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12.12.2023 / 13:57
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12.12.2023 / 12:43
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12.12.2023 / 03:47
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