That’s right, the Apple vs. Epic drama is going on tour. While the two industry titans are slowly inching closer to a resolution in U.S. courts, it won’t end there when the judge has made a ruling. Nope, it’s all kicking off down under.
Back in November of last year, Epic Games initiated proceedings against Apple in Australia. After some messy back and forth – with Apple appealing the case being heard at all in the country, stating that the case can be settled solely in the U.S. – Epic was granted its wish, and there will be a completely separate trial in Australia.
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This case will look into whether or not Apple’s business practices on the App Store are in breach of Australia’s Competition and Consumer Act. While the language differs from U.S. antitrust law, the section likely to pertain to this case is whether or not Apple’s actions “substantially lessen competition in the market.”
Substantial in this context differs based on the size of the market – so given how immensely popular mobile gaming is, and how Apple doesn’t have reach on Android products, it could be an uphill battle for Epic. That being said, the App Store is typically the only way to download games on Apple’s products, so that may be brought into consideration.
"We look forward to continuing our fight for increased competition in app distribution and payment processing in Australia and around the world”, said an Epic spokesperson, in response to the news. Apple expressed its interest in appealing the decision to have this separate trial, commenting: “The initial decision in April from Australia's Federal Court correctly ruled that Epic should be held to the agreement it made to resolve disputes in California. We respectfully disagree with the ruling made today”
Even before the case went international, it wasn’t any less convoluted. Among the claims made in the U.S., Apple recently expressed its belief that it’s actually Microsoft pulling the strings here. Apple’s line of thinking here is that Microsoft wanted to challenge Apple’s domination (or monopoly, as Epic argues) on the mobile gaming market, but didn’t want the public scrutiny that came with it. Therefore, it reached a deal with the Fortnite creator, using it as a stalking horse to test the waters.
Source: cnet