Epic Games is suing Google over its decision to boot 'Fortnite' from the Play Store

Fortnite Epic Games

  • Epic Games, developer of the popular video game 'Fortnite,' filed a lawsuit Thursday against Google, claiming its app store policies are anticompetitive.
  • Google kicked "Fortnite" out of its Play Store after Epic bypassed its ban on in-app purchases that don't use Google's own payment systems.
  • Epic and other app developers have argued that the policy constitutes monopolistic behavior by unfairly advantaging Google.
  • Epic also filed a lawsuit against Apple earlier on Thursday over its decision to boot "Fortnite" from the App Store on similar grounds.
  • Both companies' dominance in mobile app marketplaces has fueled antitrust concerns among lawmakers and regulators. 
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Epic Games, the maker of "Fortnite," took its second swing at a tech giant on Thursday by filing a lawsuit against Google, claiming that it's engaged in monopolistic behavior with its Play Store and Android operating system policies.

Earlier on Thursday, Google removed "Fortnite" from its Play Store after Epic rolled out an update that allowed users to pay it directly for in-app purchases, instead of going though Google's existing payment systems — a violation of Play Store policies.

But Epic claims in the lawsuit that the policy "harms app developers and consumers by inserting [Google] as a mandatory middleman in every in-app transaction" and therefore allowing it to charge an unnecessarily steep 30% on each transaction.

Google's decision to boot "Fortnite" came just hours after Apple made a similar move, also citing Epic's decision to circumvent the company's payment system. Epic has filed a similar suit against Apple.

 

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