In the last stage of Epic Games case against the technology giants, the Fortnite developer takes Google to court, this time in Australia.
He complete case which Epic filed in federal courts in Australia earlier this week charges Google has a “near monopoly” on app distribution and payments in the Android market by imposing a number of “contractual and technical” restrictions on the developers it works with. Taken together, says Epic, these hoops that Google requires its partners to be able to jump are a blatant breach Australian competition laws.
“Google looks forward to being open by arguing about the presence of alternative app stores on its platform or allowing direct download of third-party apps, Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said inside a statement. “Actually, these situations are so rare that they barely hit the monopoly of the Android operating system.”
As for Australia, he is right. Android controls just under half of the market share of approximately 20 million smartphones across the country. And as Epic points out in his paper statement, approximately 90% of the applications of these phones are obtained through Google Play Store, by market research which the Australian authorities had previously published.
What is happening in Australia is the latest from Epic crusade in progress against two of the largest honchos in the mobile operating space: Apple and Google. Back in August, Epic introduced a direct payment system a Fortnite which was explicitly designed to avoid a 30% reduction in subscriptions and purchases made through the purchase of Apple or Google App Store or he Google Play Store. Very soon after it was understood that Epic was trying to evade his cash cuts, both companies locked Fortnite of their respective stores.
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At that time, Epic (rightly so) pointed out that being forced into this type of pay-per-play system is more than a little unfair. When neither operator moves, lawsuits began. Back in August, Epic filed a lawsuit against apple i Google in California courts, both accusing them of anti-competitive conduct. A few months later, Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple’s Australian headquarters for reasons similar to the current case of Google. He then filed additional charges against Apple and Google in Europe only last month.