Epic Games, the company behind the massively popular game Fortnite, filed a lawsuit against Apple on Thursday after the Silicon Valley giant removed the game from its App Store, preventing players from accessing the games on iPhone and iPad devices. Epic released an ad after the banning which claims: “Epic Games has defied the App Store Monopoly. In retaliation, Apple is blocking Fortnite from a billion devices. Join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming ‘1984’”
According to a report by the Verge, Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple on Thursday in response to Apple’s decision to remove Fortnite from the App Store. Apple removed Fortnite after Epic Games began accepting in-game payments that avoided Apple’s commission fee.
Breitbart News reported in June that Microsoft President Brad Smith called for an investigation by antitrust regulators into Apple’s practices. Smith specifically highlighted their App Store, which charges developers as much as a 30 percent commission. Purchases made by the consumer within the application are also subject to a commission fee. Due to Apple’s massive share of the smartphone market, many antitrust analysts have argued that this practice hurts competition.
Just moments after Fortnite was removed from the App Store, Epic Games released an advertisement that mocked Apple’s famous “1984” ad. In the advertisement, an anthropomorphic Apple speaks to the brainwashed masses about its control over the market.
“Today, we celebrate the anniversary of the platform unification directives,” the Apple character says in the advertisement. “For years, they have given us their songs, their labor, their dreams. In exchange, we have taken our tribute, our profits, our control. This power is ours and ours alone. We shall prevail.”
The advertisement ends with a short statement in which Epic Games accuses Apple of holding a monopoly over the smartphone application market. “Epic Games has defied the App Store Monopoly. In retaliation, Apple is blocking Fortnite from a billion devices. Join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming ‘1984’” the statement reads.
On Thursday, Google took similar action against Fortnite by removing it from the Google Play store. “While Fortnite remains available on Android, we can no longer make it available on Play because it violates our policies,” a Google spokesperson said. However, Android users are still able to install Fortnite directly from the Epic Games website.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.
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