CARY — Epic Games is suing tech giant Apple over what it calls “anti-competitive restraints and monopolistic practices” with regards to iOS apps and payment.
The Cary-based game developer and creators of the mega-hit “Fortnite” filed the suit on Thursday afternoon, just minutes after Apple removed “Fortnite” entirely from its App store.
No doubt, Apple’s decision was triggered by Epic Games move earlier in the day to launch Epic direct payment, a new way to make in-app purchases on iOS and Android that skirts the controversial 30 percent charged by Apple’s app stores.
Called “Fornite Mega Drop,” it’s a permanent 20 percent discount on V-Bucks, the in-game currency used in “Fortnite.”
Epic Games had anticipated the backlash and planned ahead with a lawsuit waiting in the wings.
In the 65-page lawsuit filed in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, Epic Games said Apple has become what it once railed against: “the behemoth seeking to control markets, block competition, and stifle innovation.”
Furthermore, Apple’s removal of Fortnite is yet another example of Apple “flexing its enormous power in order to impose unreasonable restraints and unlawfully maintain its 100 percent” monopoly over the iOS In-App Payment Processing Market.”
Specifically, it cites Apple’s use of a series of “anti-competitive restraints and monopolistic practices” in markets for the distribution of software applications to users of mobile computing devices like smartphones and tablets, and the processing of consumers’ payments for digital content used within iOS mobile apps.
The suit alleges Apple imposes “unreasonable and unlawful restraints to completely monopolize both markets and prevent software developers from reaching the over one billion users of its mobile devices unless they go through a single store controlled by Apple, the App Store, where Apple exacts an oppressive 30% tax on the sale of every app.”
