FOLLOWING legal action against Apple last year, Epic Games are now going after their competition at Google filing a lawsuit against them this morning. Epic are taking legal action against the Australian division of the company due to restrictions it’s put in place in regards to the Google Play store. The case however is more so about trying to enable fairer access and competition that benefit both consumers and developers instead of seeking damages.
The legal documents filed this morning state that Google are forcing Epic Games, who also distribute games such as Fortnite directly from their website, to direct consumers to the Google Play store instead when making in-app purchases. This means consumers are charged 30% commission on top of the original fee.
However, Epic tried putting a stop to this back in August by adding a direct payment option which also offers a saving of 20% on all purchases. But when Google caught wind of this, they removed Fortnite from Google Play stopping consumers from easily downloading or updating the app. This lawsuit is similar to that made against Apple last year in regards to the same sort of cuts Apple make when purchases are made through the App Store.
Google gives the illusion of being open by making arguments about the presence of alternative app stores on its platform or allowing direct downloading of apps from third party providers, but in reality these situations are so rare that they barely make a dent in the monopoly of the Android OS”, said Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney.
“The barriers Google places on Android OS are real. In the case of direct downloading, it makes the process so difficult and scary that it deters users from downloading apps from third party-websites even though it is a totally normal way for users to get apps on a desktop. It’s actions like this that illustrate Google is more interested in feigning openness than delivering choice to consumers. We believe consumers have the right to install apps from sources of their choosing and developers have the right to compete in a fair marketplace.”
Legal proceedings are also underway in the US and the UK.
