![]() ![]() Valarie Williams, an antitrust lawyer and partner at Alston & Bird, told Polygon that Epic Games’ basic allegation comes down to whether or not Apple (and, subsequently, Google) has a monopoly through its App Store. The problem isn’t simply that Apple and Google are monolithic companies, but that they have large monopolies over certain markets. “It’ll be a test of whether the law that’s nominally on the books is actually effective in constraining the power and practices of these big tech companies,” Vaheesan said. And that’s important, regardless of whether things turn in Epic’s favor in the court of law. The hearing, like Epic’s lawsuits against Apple and Google, brought antitrust and monopoly issues to the public forefront. “It’ll be a test of whether the law that’s nominally on the books is actually effective” The high-profile hearing put the four CEOs before Congress, asking them to answer questions about the power their companies wield. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law held a major hearing on July 29, in which lawmakers grilled tech executives including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (Epic’s lawsuit, however, is still important in that if Epic wins, it’ll make it clear that Apple’s and Google’s practices are illegal, and then those companies will be forced to change their practices.) It’s different, in that way, from the antitrust hearing in Congress last month, where government officials discussed potential changes to market power rules. Epic isn’t asking the court to rewrite antitrust law as it stands - instead, it’s asking a judge to just enforce the law as it exists. Vaheesan said Epic Games’ lawyers presented “detailed factual allegations” that rely on “strong legal theories,” which bodes well for the company. “It’s challenging the practices by which acquired this dominant position and tried to leverage this dominant position into new markets. “Epic is going at the heart of the App Store monopoly, as well as Google’s comparable monopoly over the sale of Android apps,” Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director at anti-monopoly research and advocacy group Open Markets Institute, told Polygon. Although it’s valued at more than $17 billion, that’s significantly overshadowed by the trillion-dollar market capitalization of Alphabet (Google’s parent company) and Apple. Likewise, Epic Games is the “underdog,” if you can call it that. This litigation has a much larger scope than any of the other challenges that Epic Games has faced, like the Sony faceoff. ![]() It’s looking to change the policies of companies that solidified themselves as market leaders in the industry, and neither Apple nor Google will want to let go of that. And it'll be a hell of a fight! - Tim Sweeney August 14, 2020Įpic Games has gone up against large tech companies in the past, but its antitrust litigation will be different. We're fighting for open platforms and policy changes equally benefiting all developers. Today, Apple said Epic is seeking a special deal, but that's not true. “It’ll be a hell of a fight!” Sweeney said. ![]() Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said on Twitter that his company is not looking for special treatment it wants Apple and Google to change its rules and create truly “open platforms” to benefit “all developers,” not just Epic. In those lawsuits, Epic Games argues that Google’s and Apple’s policies are anti-competitive and a violation of antitrust laws. Moments after the game was removed from Apple’s storefront, Epic Games began its #FreeFortnite campaign, complete with a hashtag, in-game propaganda video, and a pair of lawsuits. In response, both Apple and Google removed Fortnite from the App Store and the Google Play Store, respectively, citing policy violations.Īs it turns out, this is what Epic Games was expecting. Epic thus circumvented the Apple storefront’s 30% cut on purchases by giving players a 20% discount on V-Bucks, Fortnite’s in-game currency. On Thursday morning, Epic Games updated Fortnite with a new option for payment processing, providing a discounted price for players who choose to process payments through Epic, not Apple or Google. In the face of Fortnite’s success, companies have ended up changing long-standing policies - like Sony, which abandoned its fight against cross-platform play in 2018 after Epic Games forced the issue, eventually leading to cross-play in other games, too.įortnite’s size and popularity gave Epic Games the power to bend Sony and Nintendo’s rules, but will the tactic work with the monoliths of Apple and Google? Well, the North Carolina-based company is trying. Fortnite developer Epic Games seems to have a way with breaking the rules. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |