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Apple, Google Pull ‘Fortnite’ From App Stores

   DailyWire.com
Fortnite
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

The company that created the enormously popular videogame “Fortnite” has gone to war against Apple at the same time Apple and Google removed the videogame from their app stores on Thursday.

The fight between Epic Games Inc., on one side, and Apple and Google on the other, stems from the fees Apple and Google charge developers for distributing their products, as The Wall Street Journal reported, adding, “Other app makers, including Netflix Inc. and Spotify Technology SA, have also butted heads with Apple on developer fees. At stake is a global market for mobile apps that generates roughly $120 billion annually, according to App Annie Inc.”

Epic sued Apple, prompting Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives to say that Epic was “testing the waters especially in light of the antitrust pressure that Apple has faced from the recent congressional hearings. If the lawsuit is successful, it would open up a Pandora’s box for other app developers to make the same move.” Ives’ perspective was buttressed by Spotify, which praised Epic for the lawsuit, saying, “Apple’s unfair practices have disadvantaged competitors and deprived consumers for far too long.”

The lawsuit against Apple states, “Epic brings this suit to end Apple’s unfair and anti-competitive actions that Apple undertakes to unlawfully maintain its monopoly in two distinct, multibillion dollar markets: (i) the iOS App Distribution Market, and (ii) the iOS In-App Payment Processing Market (each as defined below). Epic is not seeking monetary compensation from this Court for the injuries it has suffered. Nor is Epic seeking favorable treatment for itself, a single company. Instead, Epic is seeking injunctive relief to allow fair competition in these two key markets that directly affect hundreds of millions of consumers and tens of thousands, if not more, of third-party app developers.”

Apple responded to the lawsuit by issuing a statement saying, “The fact that their business interests now lead them to push for a special arrangement does not change the fact that these guidelines create a level playing field for all developers and make the store safe for all users.”

Prior to Apple and Google blocking downloading or updating the “Fortnite” app, Epic Games Inc. created an avenue whereby consumers could avoid the 30% cut tech giants obtain from digital transactions within apps; that avenue was cited by Apple and Google as the reason they deleted “Fortnite” from their app stores.

Epic fired another broadside against Apple on Thursday with the release of a video parody of Apple’s legendary “1984” commercial that targeted IBM. The video encouraged users to push the hashtag #FreeFortnite. Epic Chief Executive Tim Sweeney stated, “We must all choose to fight a painful battle now, or accept an all-powerful middleman with unbounded ambition to extract tribute and limit innovation in the decades to come.”

“The ‘Fortnite’ app has been installed 133.2 million times on Apple devices since its creation and has produced $1.2 billion in global App Store spending, according to research firm Sensor Tower Inc. Since launching on Google Play in April, the game has been installed roughly 11 million times and has generated nearly $10 million in global spending, the analytics firm said,” WSJ noted.

Here’s the 1984 Apple commercial:

Here’s the Fortnite parody:

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