Apple and Google have today removed Fortnite, a popular battle royale game from their respective app stores for violating their policies. The maker of the game, Epic Games is found to be bypassing the regular payments procedure, which could’ve earned Apple and Google a 30% cut of users spending through games.
Google and Apple Delist Fortnite
Google, Apple, and other big tech companies are scrutinized this month for antitrust practices. Under this, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook has been questioned about their Appstore policies against developers. And in a new turn of events, Apple and Google have pulled down Epic Games’ famous battle royale game, Fortnite.
It’s because the maker, Epic Games has set a direct payment channel for buying its V-bucks, the in-game currency of Fortnite. This was supposed to be going through the Appstore and Playstore, where they’d be getting a 30% cut from all the user spending. And since Epic Games has skipped this system with Fortnite, it was pulled down from the Appstore and Playstore.
Apple said it’s unfortunate of Epic Games decision and would try resolving with the maker and bring back Fortnite to Appstore. Google spokesperson said a similar statement too. Further, Epic Games has also filed a lawsuit against Apple over these unfair policies. Though Google too is charging the same share from developers, it’s not so restrictive as it allows users to sideload apps from third-party sites.
As of now, the game is just pulled down from both the appstores but isn’t banned. Thus, users who have the game installed can continue playing but just can’t download from appstore until the conflict resolves.