Tag: fortnite

Fortnite Maker Epic Games Moots Google Play Store Reforms After Antitrust Win

Fortnite video game maker Epic Games has urged a federal judge in California to force Google to open up its Play Store to greater competition after a jury found the U.S. tech giant had abused its power as a gatekeeper for apps on the Android mobile platform.

Epic made its proposal in a court filing on Thursday to U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco, seeking in part to require Google Play Store to allow users more freedom in how they download apps and to limit Google’s ability to make agreements with device makers to restrict preloading of competing app stores.

Epic said in a statement on Friday it should be allowed to bring its Epic Games Store to Android “without delays and barriers.” The company also said consumers and developers must have greater control over “how they make and offer in-app purchases, free from anticompetitive fees and restrictions.”

Responding to Epic, Google in a statement on Friday said the court filing “shows again that [Epic] simply wants the benefits of Google Play without having to pay for it.” Google said “Android is an open mobile platform that faces fierce competition” from Apple and other competitors.

Donato presided over a blockbuster antitrust trial that ended in a jury verdict against Alphabet-owned Google in December.

Donato is not bound to grant Epic’s proposal, and a hard fight is likely before any permanent order on Google is issued. But the new filing sets up the next key test of Google’s ability to impose controls on app developers and consumers.

The jury in December said Google unlawfully impeded developers’ ability to freely distribute their apps outside of Google’s Play Store and kept an overly tight grip on payments for transactions within apps. Google imposes an industry standard 30% commission on many apps and in-app purchases.

Google has defended its app store practices and denied any wrongdoing. The company has a May 3 deadline to respond to Epic’s proposal. Epic’s lawsuit did not demand monetary damages.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has said Google’s December settlement did not go far enough to restore Play Store competition.

North Carolina-based Epic Games is a privately held company, in which China’s Tencent owns a 40% stake and Walt Disney owns a stake of about 9% as of February.

Google separately in December agreed to pay $700 million to resolve state and consumer allegations over its Play Store restrictions.

The company said then it was expanding the ability of app and game developers to provide consumers an alternative billing option for in-app purchases. Google said it had piloted “choice billing” in the U.S. for more than a year.

Google has said it will appeal the December antitrust jury verdict, and it can separately challenge any reforms ordered by Donato, which could stretch the case for years.

A similar case Epic lodged against Apple in 2020, challenging its grip on its App Store, is still being fought after a non-jury trial and appeals.

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Microsoft, Meta and X Join Fortnite Maker Epic Games’ Battle Against Apple

Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Elon Musk’s X and Match Group on Wednesday joined “Fortnite” video game maker Epic Games’ protest that Apple has failed to honor a court-ordered injunction governing payments in its lucrative App Store.

The technology companies, which developed some of the most popular apps in the App Store, said Apple was in “clear violation” of the Sept. 2021 injunction by making it difficult to steer consumers to cheaper means to pay for digital content.

Apple declined to comment specifically on the accusation, which was contained in a filing with the Oakland, California federal court.

It referred to its Jan. 16 statement that it had fully complied with the injunction, which it said would protect consumers and “the integrity of Apple’s ecosystem” while ensuring that developers do not get a free ride.

Epic had sued Apple in 2020, saying it violated antitrust law by requiring consumers to obtain apps through the App Store and charging developers up to 30% commissions on purchases.

The injunction required Apple to let developers provide links and buttons to direct consumers to alternative payment options.

Last week, Epic demanded that Apple be held in contempt, saying new rules and a new 27% fee on developers made the links effectively useless.

In Wednesday’s filing, the technology companies said Apple’s conduct “for all practical purposes” entrenches anti-steering rules that the court found illegal, propping up Apple’s “excessive” commissions and harming consumers and developers.

“Apple’s restrictions on where and how developers can communicate with their users about their options for purchasing in-app content create significant barriers to competition and artificially inflate prices,” the filing said.

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear Apple’s appeal from the injunction. It also decided against hearing Epic’s appeal of lower court findings that Apple’s policies did not violate federal antitrust law.

Apple has until April 3 to formally respond to Epic’s filing. The company is based in Cupertino, California, while Epic is based in Cary, North Carolina.

The case is Epic Games Inc v Apple Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 20-05640.

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Apple Changes Decision, to Allow Epic Games Store in iPhones, iPads in EU

Under pressure from European regulators, Apple took a step back in its feud with Epic Games on Friday, clearing the way for Epic to put its own game store on iPhones and iPads in Europe.

Earlier this week, Apple had taken steps to block Epic from starting up a store and bringing back the popular game Fortnite, which Apple removed from its App Store in 2020 after Epic broke the iPhone maker’s in-app payment rules in protest.

Apple’s decision to open its door to Epic follows the European Union’s Thursday deadline for Big Tech companies to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a set of rules that bans Apple and Google from controlling which apps are distributed on devices with the iOS and Android operating systems.

Thierry Breton, the EU’s industry chief, said regulators had warned Apple about the iPhone maker’s move earlier this week to block Epic’s potential return.

“I take note with satisfaction that following our contacts Apple decided to backtrack its decision on Epic exclusion. From Day 2, #DMA is already showing very concrete results!” Breton said on the X social media platform.

Epic and Apple have been in a legal battle since 2020, when the gaming firm alleged that Apple’s practice of charging up to 30 percent commissions on in-app payments on its iOS devices violated US antitrust rules. Epic lost its court battle against Apple, and the game maker’s gambit to intentionally break Apple’s rules as a protest got it banned from Apple’s devices.

Epic’s victory on Friday leaves it well short of everything it wants from Apple.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has criticized Apple’s plans for complying with the DMA, under which Apple says it still has the right to exclude third-party app marketplaces from its devices under some circumstances. And Fortnite remains unavailable in the App Store in the United States.

For its part, Apple is grappling with an erosion of its App Store business model at the same time it has told investors that iPhone sales this quarter will be billions of dollars lower than what Wall Street expected.

The most recent tangle between Apple and Epic involved Apple’s developer accounts, which are normally a minor but necessary administrative step for developers before selling apps on Apple devices.

Apple on Friday reinstated Epic Games’ developer account two days after it had blocked the company from launching its own online marketplace on iPhones and iPads in Europe.

The game developer said it will move on with its plans to bring the Epic Games Store and Fortnite back to iOS in the continent.

“This sends a strong signal to developers that the European Commission will act swiftly to enforce the Digital Markets Act and hold gatekeepers accountable,” Epic Games added.

Apple earlier this week said it had terminated Epic’s account because the company’s actions made it doubt whether it intended to follow the new rules Apple has set out to comply with the DMA.

“Following conversations with Epic, they have committed to follow the rules, including our DMA policies. As a result, Epic Sweden AB has been permitted to re-sign the developer agreement and accepted into the Apple Developer Program,” Apple said in a statement.

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US Supreme Court Rejects Appeals From Apple, Epic Games Over App Store Antitrust Ruling

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a challenge by Apple to a lower court’s decision requiring changes to certain rules in its lucrative App Store, as the justices shunned the lengthy legal battle between the iPhone maker and Epic Games, maker of the popular video game Fortnite.

The justices also turned away Epic’s appeal of the lower court’s ruling that Apple’s App Store policies limiting how software is distributed and paid for do not violate federal antitrust laws. The justices gave no reasons for their decision to deny the appeals.

Apple’s stock fell more than 2 percent in early trading on Tuesday.

In a social media post, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said, “The court battle to open iOS (Apple’s mobile operating system) to competing stores and payments is lost in the United States. A sad outcome for all developers.”

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Epic filed an antitrust lawsuit in 2020, accusing Apple of acting as an illegal monopolist by requiring consumers to get apps through its App Store and buy digital content inside an app using its own system. Apple charges up to a 30 percent commission for in-app purchases.

US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in 2021 rejected Epic’s antitrust claims against Apple. But the judge found that Apple violated California’s unfair competition law by barring developers from “steering” users to make digital purchases that bypass Apple’s in-app system, which Epic contends could save them money with lower commissions.

The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld much of Rogers’ decision in 2023, finding that Epic had “failed to prove the existence of substantially less restrictive alternatives” to Apple’s system.

The judge’s injunction requires Apple to let app developers provide links and buttons that direct consumers to other ways to pay for digital content that they use in their apps.

Sweeney wrote on his social media post: “As of today, developers can begin exercising their court-established right to tell US customers about better prices on the web.”

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, Epic had said that the 9th Circuit’s decision “guarantees severe anticompetitive harm and effectively insulates the most monopolistic tech-platform practices from antitrust scrutiny.”

Apple had noted in its appeal that Epic did not file a class-action lawsuit and said the broad injunction imposed by Rogers exceeds the constitutional authority of federal courts, which typically should be limited to providing relief to the parties before them.

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Fortnite Maker Epic Games Wins Antitrust Case Against Google Over Play Store Monopoly

Fortnite maker Epic Games has prevailed in its high-profile antitrust trial over Alphabet’s Google, which alleged the Play app store operated as an illegal monopoly, in a ruling that if it holds could upend the entire app store economy.

Jurors found for Epic on all counts, a court filing showed, after more than a month of trial in Epic’s lawsuit, which accused Google of taking action to quash competitors and charge unduly high fees of up to 30 percent to app developers. The court in January will begin work on what remedies to implement.

The ruling marks a stunning defeat for Google, which alongside Apple operates one of the world’s largest app stores. If the ruling holds, it has the potential to give developers more sway over how their apps are distributed and how they profit off them.

Google said it would appeal. “We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem,” Wilson White, vice president of government affairs and public policy at Google, said in an emailed statement.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney on Monday cheered the ruling on social media site X, calling out “the Google Play monopoly.”

Lawyers for the two companies made their final arguments on Monday morning and the federal judge handed the case to the jury less than four hours earlier, with instructions that a decision must be unanimous.

Among Epic’s allegations were that Google illegally ties together its Play store and billing service, meaning developers were required to use both to have their apps included in the store.

While the Play store represents a much smaller chunk of Google’s revenue compared to its massively profitable search business, it is symbolically important as the central gatekeeper to billions of mobile phones and tablets.

Google may be compelled to allow for more app stores on Android-powered devices and lose revenue from the cut it takes out of in-app purchases.

“(Today’s verdict) proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovation,” Epic said in a statement on its website.

Google accused of deleting messages

“The trial has shone a very bright light on what Google has done to impair the competition,” a lawyer for Epic, Gary Bornstein, told jurors earlier in the day, adding Google “systematically blocks” alternative app stores on the company’s Play store.

Among the more sensational allegations were that Google had a system for deleting texts and internal messages for the purpose of concealing its anticompetitive behavior. An attorney for Epic instructed jurors on Monday that they could assume the content of the deleted messages was pertinent to the case and “would have been unfavorable to Google.”

Google has denied wrongdoing, arguing that it competes “intensely on price, quality, and security” against Apple’s App Store.

A lawyer for Google, Jonathan Kravis, told jurors that “Google does not want to lose 60 million Android users to Apple every year.” Google lowered its fee structure to compete with Apple, Kravis said.

“This is not the behavior of a monopolist,” he said.

Google settled related claims from dating app maker Match before the trial started. The tech giant also settled related antitrust claims by US states and consumers under terms that have not been made public.

Epic lodged a similar antitrust case against Apple in 2020, but a US judge largely ruled in favour of Apple in September 2021.

Epic has asked the US Supreme Court to revive key claims in the Apple case, and Apple is fighting part of a ruling for Epic that would require changes to App Store rules.

Epic purposefully violated Play store rules by skirting its billing systems allowing for customers to make in-app purchases directly with Epic, an attorney for the gamemaker said on Monday. As a result, Google banned Fortnite and Epic filed its suit in response.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Epic’s Bid to Let App Store Order Take Effect in Apple Case Refused by US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday dealt a setback to Epic Games, maker of the popular video game Fortnite, in its legal battle against Apple, declining to let a federal judge’s injunction take effect that could force the iPhone maker to change payment practices in its lucrative App Store. 

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan, acting for the Supreme Court, denied Epic’s request to lift a decision by the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that effectively delayed implementing an injunction issued by US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers barring certain App Store rules, while Apple pursues a Supreme Court appeal. 

The 9th Circuit in April had upheld the injunction but in July put that decision on hold. Kagan handles emergency matters for the Supreme Court arising from a group of states including California. 

Epic filed an antitrust lawsuit in 2020, accusing Apple of acting as an illegal monopolist by requiring consumers to get apps through its App Store and buy digital content inside an app using its own system — for which it charges up to a 30 percent commission.

Rogers in 2021 rejected Epic’s antitrust claims against Apple. But the judge found that Apple violated California’s unfair competition law by barring developers from “steering” users to make digital purchases that bypass Apple’s in-app system, which Epic could save them money with lower commissions. 

The judge’s injunction required Apple to let app developers provide links and buttons that direct consumers to other ways to pay for digital content that they use in their apps. 

In seeking to pause the injunction from taking effect while it readies an appeal to the Supreme Court, Apple told the 9th Circuit that Rogers had erred in prohibiting it from enforcing its rules against all app developers in the United States, rather than just Epic. 

“Apple will be required to change its business model to comply with the injunction before judicial review has been completed,” the company told the 9th Circuit. “The undisputed evidence establishes that the injunction will limit Apple’s ability to protect users from fraud, scams, malware, spyware, and objectionable content.”

Epic told the Supreme Court that the 9th Circuit’s standard for putting cases on hold is “far too lenient.”

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PS5 Cloud Streaming Beta Rolls Out to Select PS Plus Premium Members: 4K Support, Save Syncing

Sony has reportedly begun rolling out public beta access for cloud gaming on the PS5. As per ResetEra user ArashiGames, chosen PS Plus Premium members will be able to stream select games at up to 4K resolution. While the company confirmed the addition of cloud streaming in June, it’s only now that we’re learning about the supported resolution. That said, it’s unclear whether the maximum resolution refers to the in-game graphical fidelity or the streaming resolution, but a screenshot suggests that available resolutions are entirely dependent on the player’s internet connection. The core idea is that you can play games from the cloud without actually owning or downloading any of them.

For now, beta testers can choose between four main resolutions — 720p, 1080p, 1440p, and the aforementioned 2160p (4K), with Arashi claiming that cloud gaming automatically syncs with your game saves and the progression picks up from where you left off. Regardless, images will get compressed into a haze when being processed and delivered at high speeds across the internet. So, in the larger picture, it shouldn’t make a big difference if Ultra HD cloud streaming refers to the in-game render quality or the resolution it’s being streamed at. This serves as another incentive for players to sign up for a PS Plus Premium/ Deluxe subscription, which will in time, keep adding games to the platform.

Sony previously described the cloud streaming catalogue to include ‘supported PS5 games’ and now, thanks to Arashi, we know which ones they are. The catalogue includes 12 games, scattered between both first-party PlayStation titles that eventually made it to PC and some smaller third-party entries.

For comparison Xbox Cloud Gaming offers up to 1080p game streaming, running at 60fps — a feature that comes packaged with the higher-tier Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. In a sense, the upcoming PS5 cloud streaming service is a follow-up to the PlayStation Now service — suffering a rebrand after it got integrated into PlayStation’s revised plans. However, the aforementioned beta test is only for the PS5 and unlike PS Now, you can’t stream games onto a PC (the service itself isn’t available in India and several other countries). PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan also claimed, earlier this year, that Sony has ‘fairly interesting and aggressive plans’ for cloud gaming.

For now, it’s unclear whether Sony’s upcoming handheld Project Q will also support cloud streaming, though we already know that it will be limited to 1080p, remotely mirroring a PS5 system you own. It’s also worth noting that in April, the company reportedly tried hiring 22 roles related to cloud gaming technology.

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Epic Games Asks US Supreme Court to Allow Ruling Against Apple’s App Store Payment Practices to Take Effect

Epic Games on Thursday asked the US Supreme Court to allow a lower court ruling to take effect against Apple that could force the iPhone maker to change payment practices in its App Store.

Epic, maker of the popular video game Fortnite, filed a request asking the nation’s highest court to lift a July 17 decision by the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to pause its ruling that upheld an injunction against Apple. The decision gave Apple 90 days to pursue an appeal at the Supreme Court.

In the closely-watched case, Epic filed its antitrust lawsuit in 2020 challenging Apple’s App Store practices.

The 9th Circuit in April upheld a federal judge’s 2021 order that could require Apple to allow developers to provide links and buttons that direct consumers to payment options outside the App Store and avoid paying sales commissions to Apple.

The trial judge had found that Apple violated California’s unfair competition laws by barring developers from “steering” users to other ways to pay, but also that Apple’s rules did not violate antitrust laws.

In seeking to pause the injunction from taking effect while it readies an appeal to the Supreme Court, Apple told the 9th Circuit that the trial judge had erred in prohibiting Apple from enforcing its rules against all app developers in the United States, rather than just Epic itself.

“Apple will be required to change its business model to comply with the injunction before judicial review has been completed,” the company told the 9th Circuit. “The undisputed evidence establishes that the injunction will limit Apple’s ability to protect users from fraud, scams, malware, spyware, and objectionable content.”

Epic told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the 9th Circuit’s standard for putting cases on hold is “far too lenient.”

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Apple Urges US Court to Undo Antitrust Order on App Store in Epic Games Case

Apple said on Monday it will ask the US Supreme Court to hear its challenge to a judge’s order in an antitrust case brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games that could force the iPhone maker to change payment practices in its App Store.

Apple said in a court filing it will ask the justices to take up its appeal of a ruling on Friday by the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that kept in place most of the order issued in 2021 by US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

The judge’s order said Apple could not prohibit developers from providing links and buttons to payment options in their apps that take consumers outside of the App Store — a step that could reduce sales commissions paid to Apple.

Epic sued Apple in 2020, challenging the fee Apple imposes on in-app payments. Epic was seeking an injunction to stop Apple’s practice, not monetary damages. Rogers ruled against most of Epic’s claims, though did issue the order that Apple is contesting. 

In appeals to the 9th Circuit, Epic challenged key parts of the judge’s ruling that favored Apple, while Apple challenged the order concerning the App Store. The 9th Circuit in April upheld most of the judge’s action. On Friday, the 9th Circuit rejected petitions from Apple and Epic urging the court to revisit its April decision.

Epic Games also can ask the Supreme Court to hear its appeal.

Epic in its appeal to the 9th Circuit had sought to revive its antitrust claims against Apple over its restrictive app distribution and payment services.

Apple’s attorneys in Monday’s filing said the 9th Circuit reached too far in issuing a nationwide injunction against Apple alleging that it violated a California state unfair competition law.

Apple said its petition in the Supreme Court that it will raise “far-reaching and important” questions about the power of judges to issue broad injunctions.

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Competitive Gamers Puzzled at the Choice of Games Featured for the Singapore Olympics eSports Week

ESports has long been derided as “not a real sport”. But now, an Olympic-organised event is being dismissed by competitive gamers as not real eSports. Many long-time backers of big-money digital contests, which are edging their way towards elite-level recognition, are puzzled by the choice of games at the inaugural Olympics Esports Week that kicks off in Singapore on Thursday.

Instead of well-established gaming titles, it will feature 10 simulated sports, among them archery, baseball, chess, and taekwondo. Aficionados are concerned with the choice of virtual sports — that is, digital recreations of real-world events — rather than eSports, which are essentially video games played at an elite competitive level.

With popular video games such as Counter-Strike and DOTA 2, eSports has been booming over the past decade. It has penetrated pop culture and social media, its tournaments filling stadiums and pulling millions of online viewers.

Matthew Woods from eSports marketing agency AFK said the disappointment over the Olympics Esports Week “spawned from the fact that none of the games selected were games that anybody in the industry really considered to be eSports”.

Malaysian professional eSports coach Khairul Azman Mohamad Sharif agreed, saying he found the list baffling. “I don’t think these sports games should be highlighted at the competition compared to top eSports games, considering these types of sports are already physically contested,” he said.

‘Olympic values’

The only saving grace for some is that the shooting event will involve the globally loved Fortnite, but in a version without its kill-or-be-killed Battle Royale mode. That modification is because the International Olympic Council (IOC) cannot feature titles that go against Olympic values, so a lot of popular video games with violence are out.

The IOC officially recognised eSports as a sport in 2017 and has been in discussions with industry players about inclusion on the most prestigious stage. Such changes tend to happen slowly but the IOC has opened new frontiers recently, with skateboarding at the Tokyo Games and breakdancing at Paris 2024.

ESports will be a medal sport for the first time at the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Describing the list of games as “a very sensible first approach”, vice-president of the Global Esports Federation and CEO of British Esports Chester King said the Singapore event would be a positive step in eventually putting popular video games on the Olympic roster.

“This is the first event and we’ve got to make sure all the stakeholders in the IOC accept it and like it,” he said.

Bryan Tan, a partner at law firm Reed Smith, which specialises in eSports and media, said the event in the city-state “is also a testing ground to iron out the kinks involved in bringing eSports to the Olympic level”.

IOC sports director Kit McConnell told AFP that the choices were made to support virtual sports.

“This is why we have focused first on virtual and simulated sports games in the competition series,” he said. He added that selected games had to be inclusive with no technical barriers to entry and have gender equality, which is “often not yet the case in the field of competitive gaming”.

If popular video titles do make it to the Olympic level with top players, the Games will stand to potentially draw millions of fresh viewers. But a major challenge could be navigating intricate relationships with publishers of popular games.

AFK’s Woods said publishers are “commercial enterprises which own the IP that their games are built on and therefore have an unlimited amount of influence into who hosts events and how this is done”.

While there are no concrete plans now for eSports to be included as medal events at the Olympics, the Singapore event will be watched closely to see what sort of reception it garners.

“I think it will be fascinating to see how it is received. Much of this will no doubt come down to the altered format of the games,” said Woods.

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