back to article Epic Games brings its Fortnite fight with Apple to Australia

Epic Games has had another crack at forcing Apple to let it handle in-game purchases itself, rather than through the App Store, this time by bringing a case in Australia – a nation currently running an inquiry into app store monopolies. The Apple vs. Epic fight kicked off in August 2020 when the game developer breached the …

  1. don't you hate it when you lose your account

    They gave the reg a comment

    Obviously Apple Australia didn't get the memo about not talking to you.

    1. cookieMonster Silver badge
      WTF?

      Re: They gave the reg a comment

      That’s twice this year.

      A tip for the reg... buy a lottery ticket or two.

    2. MiguelC Silver badge

      Re: They gave the reg a comment

      They answer when it suits them... no change there

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "... Their reckless behaviour made pawns of customers, and we look forward to making this clear to Australian courts."

    Hilarious.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple

    talking about Apps and using the word 'apply' kinda makes me feel like an Apple.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Australia pioneered plain packaging for cigarette packets

    Australia also led the charge to have social media companies quickly take down live streams of mass violence events

    The nation is also currently trying to find a way to have Google and Facebook channel more funds to local news publishers

    Don't forget about how the ACCC whipped Valve's ass in court, and how the steam refund policy was due to Valve being totes nice guys and not at all due to an Aussie judge getting ready to hand down a $10,000/day fine for breaches of our consumer protection laws. The timing was just a coincidence! honest!

    It's one thing this country actually sort of gets right.

  5. Wolfclaw

    Apple is the guilty party, mostly for the 30% fee, if it was a smaller amount companies like Epic wouldn't both investing any resources in complaining or competing. In the end, will the consumer be the winner, hard to say, but the lawyers will be laughing !

    1. SImon Hobson Bronze badge

      Apple is the guilty party, mostly for the 30% fee, if it was a smaller amount ...

      It's not really about the 30%, though that does feature heavily. What it's really about is that if you buy an iDevice, then you can only install apps from Apple's store - there's no other route without jailbreaking the device which for the vast majority of users is not on the table. Thus Apple can act as a gatekeeper and effectively control what you do with the device you bought and paid for.

      Secondary to that is the issue of parting providers from the users - the "no outside payments" bit. It's all designed to keep providers of services (for example newspapers) from being able to a) offer their own deals to users, and b) know who the users are.

      And of course, turning this walled garden into a cash cow by taking a significant slice of everything.

      There is a valid argument that 30% is a reasonable fee for some of the services provided. For a small developer, not having to worry about distribution, payments, piracy, etc, etc is probably worth that 30%. But the issue is that there is no choice - some businesses (such as Epic) might be happy doing it all themselves, but Apple won't let them.

  6. Joe Gurman

    Big news

    ....for the legal profession, who will make big bucks off their fees in this litigation. What was that someone said about consumers winning?

  7. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    30%

    That is not a commission - that's extortion.

  8. TheSkunkyMonk

    Karma

    Is kind funny mind considering they spend millions ensuring Steam is cut out from new titles, Little tit for tat might be a good thing. The rates these platforms charge is scandalous though, by the time the platform and the taxman has ran of with there share you can be left with less than half what you earned.

  9. CCD

    Apple reducing commission for small developers from January

    Apple has just announced a "Small Business Program", commencing January 1, 2021, reducing commission rates on paid apps and in-app purchases from 30% to 15% for developers with annual proceeds up to US $1 million.

    I wonder whether Google or Amazon will follow suit...

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