Epic Games has filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in the United Kingdom to a competition watchdog.
The company released a statement outlining that the antitrust complaint is part of its continued global fight for fairer digital platforms.
Epic claims that Apple’s restrictive rules governing the distribution of apps and payment processes constitute a clear violation of the U.K. Competition Act of 1998. The company argues that Apple’s practices are monopolistic.
“By kneecapping the competition and exerting its monopoly power over app distribution and payments, Apple strips UK consumers of the right to choose how and where they get their apps, while locking developers into a single marketplace that lets Apple charge any commission rate they choose,” said Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney in a statement.
“These harmful practices lead to artificially inflated costs for consumers, and stifle innovation among developers, many of whom are unable to compete in a digital ecosystem that is rigged against them.”
The dispute between Epic and Apple began when Epic released an update that added a new in-app payment method for buying content in the game that bypassed Apple and Google’s payment processing systems.
Apple and Google responded by booting Fortnite from their respective app stores.
Epic says it isn’t looking for monetary damages in its several different legal proceedings against Apple since August 2020 and is instead looking for ways to prevent Apple from manipulating the market.
Source: Epic Games
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