‘Fortnite’ one of the world’s most popular mobile game is suddenly removed on Thursday by Apple and Google from the App Store and Google Play Store for launching a direct payment plan that bypasses Google and Apple’s standard 30 per cent fee.
The royal battle game ‘Fortnite’ by Epic, which made its debut in 2017, has around 350 million registered players worldwide. The game is free to download but generate revenue through purchases of items such as dance moves and digital costumes for players’ avatars.
In a statement picked up by The Verge, Google said : “For game developers who choose to use the Play Store, we have consistent policies that are fair to developers and keep the store safe for users.”
Tim Sweeney, Chief Executive of Epic has waged a public campaign against the Google Play Store and App Store, saying their developer fees are highly excessive.
Mr Sweeney said in an interview that, “We must all choose to fight a painful battle now, or accept an all-powerful middleman with unbounded ambition.”
After the removal from Google Play Store, ‘Fortnite’ is still available for android users from other app stores like Epic Games app or Samsung Galaxy Store on Samsung devices but for Apple users, there is no such choice.
In response to this, Fortnite released a video called the ‘Nineteen Eighty – Fortnite #FreeFortnite’ mocking Apple’s famous 1984 advertisement. The #FreeFortnite describes Epic battle with Apple as defying the “App Store Monopoly” and asked gamers and fans to join and support this fight against Apple.
Epic Games has defied the App Store Monopoly. In retaliation, Apple is blocking Fortnite from a billion devices.
Visit https://t.co/K3S07w5uEk and join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming "1984" https://t.co/tpsiCW4gqK
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 13, 2020
Besides this, Epic went on suing Apple and Google in US court to prove Apple’s and Google’s monopoly and unfair practices to end for fair competition in the mobile app distribution.
Epic Games has filed legal papers in response to Apple, read more here: https://t.co/c4sgvxQUvb
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 13, 2020
However, Apple and Google are trying to resolve these violations so they can bring back Fortnite to the App Store and on Google Play.
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