In the last stage of Epic Games’ case against the tech giants, the Fifteen days developer is taking Google to court – this time in Australia.
THE complete case that Epic filed with the federal courts of Australia earlier this week accuses Google to maintain an “almost monopoly” on the distribution of applications and payments on the Android market, imposing a series of “contractual and technical” restrictions on the developers with whom it works. Altogether, says Epic, these obstacles that Google requires its partners to overcome constitute a flagrant violation of Australian competition laws.
“Google gives the illusion of being open, arguing about the presence of alternative app stores on its platform or allowing the direct download of apps from third-party vendors, Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said at the a statement. “In reality, these situations are so rare that they hardly affect the Android operating system monopoly.”
As far as Australia is concerned, he is right. Android Controls just under half market share for the about 20 million smartphones all over the country. And as Epic points out in its statement, about 90% of apps on these phones are obtained through the Google Play Store, by market research that the Australian authorities had already released.
What’s happening in Australia is the latest from Epic’s ongoing crusade against two of the biggest bosses in the mobile operating area: Apple and Google. Back in august, epic introduced a direct payment system for Fifteen days which was explicitly designed to circumvent the 30% cut that Apple or Google receives from subscriptions and in-game purchases made through App Store or the Google app store. Soon after word got out that Epic was trying to get around its cash cuts, both companies blocked Fifteen days their respective stores.
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At the time, Epic (with reason) pointed that being forced into this type of pay-per-game system is more than a little unfair. When none of the operators moved, the processes started. In August, Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple and Google in California courts, accusing both of anti-competitive behavior. A few months later, Epic filed a lawsuit against the Australian HQ of Apple for reasons similar to the current Google case. Then he filed additional lawsuits against Apple and Google in Europe just last month.