In a court filing in the Epic Games lawsuit on Thursday, Apple said it plans to argue that it faces abundant competition in the market for video game transactions to defend itself against antitrust allegations by “Fortnite” maker Epic Games.
Epic sued Apple last year in federal court in California, alleging the 15% to 30% commissions that Apple charges for the use of its in-app payment systems and Apple’s longstanding practice of exercising control over which apps can be installed on its devices amount to anticompetitive behavior.
The dispute arose after Epic tried to implement its own in-app payment system in the popular “Fortnite” game and Apple subsequently banned the game from its App Store…
Epic has argued that Apple… abuses that power by forcing developers to deliver their software through the App Store, where developers are subject to fees on some transactions.
MacDailyNews Take: If this works out for Epic, we’re going to file lawsuits against Target, Walmart, etc. for not allowing us to set up card tables to sell MacDailyNews T-shirts in their stores using their ability to attract and congregate shoppers, their electricity, heat, roof, staff, etc., and, of course, our own cash registers so that we can take 100% of the profit.
The bottom line: Epic Games wants to enjoy all of the benefits of Apple’s App Store, use of Apple’s server farms, staff, electricity, etc. along with access to well over one billion of the world’s most affluent users for free.
