Epic Games has all its cannons pointed at Google
In 2020, Epic Games filed a lawsuit against both Apple and Google. The lawsuit alleged that both companies were engaging in anti-competitive practices in their app marketplaces. One of the key issues at stake in the lawsuit is whether Google and Apple have a monopoly on the distribution of apps on their respective mobile platforms.
Google recently shared some key insights into its perspective on the lawsuit. In a blog post, Google argued that its Play Store is not a monopoly and that developers have multiple options for distributing apps on Android devices.
Google also defended its decision to remove Fortnite from the Play Store, arguing that Epic Games violated the Play Store's terms of service by offering its own in-app payment system.
Google's perspective
Google argues that the Play Store is not a monopoly because it competes with other app stores, such as the Samsung Galaxy Store and Amazon Appstore. Google also points out that Android devices come preloaded with multiple app stores, so users are not forced to use the Play Store.
Google also refutes Epic Games' claim that developers are compelled to use the Play Store. Google says that there are a number of ways for developers to distribute apps on Android devices, including through sideloading, app stores, and their own websites.
Fortnite has been removed from the Play Store
Google removed Fortnite from the Play Store after Epic Games offered its own in-app payment system for the game. This violated the Play Store's terms of service, which require all developers to use Google's payment system for purchases made within apps.
Google argues that it has a right to set its own terms of service for the Play Store. Google also says that its payment system is necessary to protect users from fraud and to ensure that developers are paid for their apps.
Epic Games says no more to big tech tax
Epic wants to offer a separate payment system for its apps to avoid paying Google's fees. Google charges developers a 30% fee on all in-app purchases made through the Play Store. Epic believes that this fee is too high and that it hurts developers and consumers.
Epic has also accused Google of abusing its power in the Android app market. Epic claims that Google forces developers to use its payment system and that it stifles competition. Epic wants to offer a separate payment system to give developers more choices and to create a more competitive marketplace.
Read also: Judge says Google's deal with Apple is the heart of the antitrust case.
The trial is soon
The Epic Games v. Google trial will begin on November 6th in the United States District Court in California's Northern District. A list of potential witnesses has been released, including executives from both companies.
Epic Games plans to call Google and Alphabet CEOs Sundar Pichai and Ruth Porat to testify, while Google will present its case to defend its actions in this ongoing legal battle.
The Epic Games lawsuit against Google is still ongoing, and it is unclear how the case will be resolved. However, Google's recent blog post provides some important insights into the company's perspective on the case.
Now you: Do you think Epic Games' claims are well-founded or just an attempt to get a piece of the monopoly pie?
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Boy you are dumb.
Sounds like you only side against them because Tencent has a large stake in Epic Games.
While completely ignoring the 30% tax, for which both app stores (Apple and Google) offer very little.
Or Valve with Steam for that matter, though to be fair Steam does a lot of good work that I have appreciated several times, including being a trusted intermediary for payments instead of 1001+ different payment pages, each of which might be compromised by malware or run by a crooked game company.
But 30% is hugely more than a payment processor, so that argument falls flat since the stores are a thin layer of work on top of payment processing, with a fat sideorder of profit.
It is pretty much 30% for the sake of being 30%.
Like a tv show slotted for 30 minutes is close to 30% advertising.
“we take 30%, corp tax taxes 30%, you get to keep 40%” – not counting sales tax. While not ever having such costs or providing value that could justify charging that percentage.
While intensely ironic that none of them pay anywhere near normal corporate tax on that 30%.
Most smaller countries are lucky to even collect the correct amount of sales tax from these giants.
Of course this pales compared to what sellers have to fork over on Amazon and what price-dictation terms, OUTSIDE AMAZON BY AMAZON, that they have to agree to, to not get delisted.
It should be illegal to have such contract terms, but the US is run by thugs and people who think and act like selfindulgent “gangsta’s”, not caring the least about atrocious terms – as long as US is #1 and the one doing it. They are still leading by example, as #1 tends to do by default, they have just lost sight of which ones they are making and the importance of it. Btw, usa readers, they are some quite horrible ones, to the point where a lot of the world is thinking, incorrectly I might add, that it can’t be all that much worse with the chinese, india (or down the road, africa) in charge.
It can, but that’s no excuse for setting rotten examples.
Epic Games is 40% owned by Tencent… but I guess “it’s Chinese” or CCP or something doesn’t apply here or any other gaming studio Tencent has bought in the past year, that’s the funny thing.
Since Tencent bought all those shares, they started in their depredatory practicing buying many other companies, they even can give devs their 1m ‘for free trial’ before start asking for a fee and giving games for free every week even if their store is weak and free for month Unreal Engine assets and people still think they do it because they care about users, especially when Epic Games charges the same fee for having games in the store, but when throwing money at people and some companies will always be good PR so people ‘love you’ unlike other companies, just look how people hated Unity and their changes but nobody has hated Epic Game when they are just the same, but since they are backed up by Tencent, they can throw money easily.
I am glad to know Epic Games will lose money on this playing the ‘good guys’