Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney says ``Android is a fake open platform'' in Google vs. Epic Games trial
Epic Games CEO Sweeney Takes Aim at Android's 'Fake Open Platform' - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-20/epic-games-sweeney-takes-aim-at-android-s-fake-open-platform
CEO of Fortnite game maker casts Google as a 'crooked' bully during Android app trial | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/google-epic-antitrust-trial-android-apps-02442e3f97f134f19563de4c4c82a07f
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney Slams Google As A Crooked Adversary In Antitrust Trial | HotHardware
https://hothardware.com/news/epic-games-ceo-slams-google-as-crooked-in-trial
Apple and Google charge 15-30% fees for app purchases and in-app purchases through their own app stores. In response to this, Epic Games introduced a payment method that bypasses the app store in the mobile app version of Fortnite in August 2020, but this led to Fortnite being removed from the app store as it violated the terms of use. Did.
In response to these mobile OS reactions, Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple and Google for violating antitrust laws. In the Epic Games v. Apple appeals court held in April 2023, the court ruled that ``App Store apps should be allowed to direct users to external payment options,'' but Apple won't accept claims related to antitrust laws. The result is a victory. Both Epic Games and Apple are appealing this ruling.
Apple vs. Epic Games appellate court rules that ``links to external payment systems cannot be prohibited on the App Store'', but Apple wins in most cases - GIGAZINE
The Epic Games vs. Google trial will be held in November 2023, with testimony on various topics related to antitrust litigation. In order to prove that Google has exercised market power and violated antitrust laws, Epic Games is seeking $8 billion (approx. 2 trillion yen),and paid a total of hundreds of millions of dollars (tens of billions of yen) to major game companies such as Activision Blizzard and Riot Games to encourage them not to open their own app stores. I am claiming.
Epic Games claims that ``Google paid 51 billion yen to prevent major game companies from opening their own app stores'' - GIGAZINE
Epic Games' Mr. Sweeney, who testified at the trial on November 19, claimed that in 2018 he believed that Android was an open platform for developers. However, he said he later realized that Android is a 'fake open platform' and is as closed as the App Store.
According to Mr. Sweeney, Google invited Mr. Sweeney to Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, and persuaded him to offer the Fortnite mobile application on Google Play. At this time, Google seems to have offered various financial incentives to Epic Games, but Mr. Sweeney said, ``Google had proposed a series of backroom deals, but it was to prevent Epic Games from competing with Google. 'This seemed like a fraudulent transaction.'
In the end, Epic Games rejected this transaction and tried to distribute the Android version of the app from its website, but the number of Android users who downloaded it was far lower than expected. Sweeney pointed out that Google's strategy of requiring users to go through tedious processes when downloading apps outside of the Google Play Store and displaying pop-ups warning of potential problems with apps led to this result. 'We realized that Google is a difficult adversary and has the ability to thwart us,' Sweeney said.
In addition, at the trial, Google's lawyer pointed out that ``Epic Games had paid 30% of the profits earned on platforms such as Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft by the end of 2020 to companies such as Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft,'' and ``30% of sales. There were instances where Google claimed that Google's fees were standard fees.
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