Epic Games involves Australian regulators in its legal dispute against Apple

According to a new report, Epic Games has taken its App Store legal dispute with Apple to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the country’s market regulatory authority. 

Apple was sued by Epic Games last year in Australia after Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store for violating rules. While the trial is yet to take place, Epic is warning Australia’s market regulator to take action against Apple.

Epic Games talks to Australian market regulator about Apple’s “unrestrained market power”

According to Financial Review report, Epic Games told the ACCC that Apple’s “unrestrained market power” is suffocating innovation and competition, and is artificially boosting the price of iPhone and iPad apps. 

Apple’s “unrestrained market power” is artificially jacking up the price of phone and tablet apps and suppressing competition and innovation in a key gateway to the Australian economy, one of the world’s most successful app developers has warned Australia’s market regulator.

Epic Games, maker of the smash hit video game Fortnite, has told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that Apple’s stranglehold on iPhone and iPad app distribution and billing is forcing app developers to pay a 30 per cent “Apple tax” on all the games they sell, when the true commission should be closer to the single-digit commissions paid in other markets.

The ACCC has already been investigating Apple and Google on whether these companies abuse their power in their respective app stores. Epic Games said that both Google and Apple should operate “in a manner, that facilitates competition, fair access and choice, consumer value for money, and innovation.

The dispute between the two companies began last year when Epic implemented a direct payment system that bypassed Apple’s own to avoid giving commission. When Apple discovered, it removed Fortnite from the App Store. Earlier in February, a judge ruled that Apple CEO Tim Cook must undertake a seven-hour deposition regarding the legal dispute with Epic Games. 

Read More:

• Judge described Apple as “frustrating and unsatisfactory” in the case against Epic Games
• Epic Games has widened its dispute with Apple and Google in U.K.
• In Epic’s lawsuit against Apple, U.S. Court orders Apple CEO Tim Cook’s deposition, Craig Federighi to be document custodian and more