In the latest part of Epic Games’ case against the technical giants, the Fortnite developer takes Google to court – this time in Australia.
The full case accused Epic filed with Australian federal courts earlier this week Google maintains an ‘almost monopoly’ over the distribution of apps and payments in the Android Market by imposing a large number of ‘contractual and technical’ restrictions on the developers it works with. All in all, Epic says that these hoops required by Google for its partners to jump are a blatant violation Australia’s competition laws.
“Google gives the illusion of being open by arguing about the presence of alternative app stores on its platform or by allowing direct downloads from third-party providers,” Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said in a statement. “In fact, these situations are so rare that it hardly dives into the monopoly of the Android operating system.”
As for Australia, he is right. Android controls just under half of the market share for the about 20 million smartphones across the country. And like Epic in his statement, approximately 90% of the apps on those phones are accessed through the Google Play Store, per market research which Australian authorities had previously evicted.
What’s happening in Australia is the latest in Epic’s continuous crusade against two of the biggest honchos in the mobile business space: Apple and Google. Back in Augustus, Epic launched a direct payment system in Fortnite which is explicitly designed to circumvent Apple’s or Google’s 30% reduction in subscriptions and in-game purchases made by Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Fairly soon after the message perished that Epic was trying to bypass them cash savings, both companies blocked Fortnite from their respective stores.
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Epic of the time (right) pointed out that it is more than a little unfair to be forced into this kind of pay-for-play system. When no operator would move, the lawsuits have begun. Back in August, Epic filed a lawsuit against appeal and Google in the courts in California and accused both of competing. A few months later, Epic filed for bankruptcy against Apple’s Australian headquarters on similar grounds as the current Google case. Then it filed additional charges against Apple and Google in Europe just last month.