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As a complaint made in Europe, Fortnite Maker’s feud with Apple deepens
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As a complaint made in Europe, Fortnite Maker’s feud with Apple deepens 

BRUSSELS: Fortnite maker Epic Games has filed a complaint against Apple with the EU’s antitrust authorities, deeper into a feud that started last year.

In an arduous struggle, Apple and Epic were locked up about Apple’s close control of the app store and its 30 percent revenue cut.

In August, when Apple expelled Fortnite, one of the most popular games in the world, from its app store, the dispute took a dramatic turn after Epic released an update that dodged revenue sharing with the iPhone maker.

Apple does not allow applications from anywhere except the App Store to be accessed by users of its popular devices, and developers have to use the payment scheme of Apple that takes its share.

“We will not stand idly by and allow Apple to use its platform dominance to control what should be a level digital playing field,” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said in a statement.

Epic games battle for Fortnite to return to the App Store

The company said that the lawsuit “complements” the other legal lawsuits that it initiated in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Apple was accused by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that he had imposed rules on outside developers that he could not adhere to his own services.

This represents Spotify’s allegations that Apple still claims the Apple Music service has an undue advantage over other streaming platforms.

Apple is hitting back

Apple completely denied Epic’s claims and accused the business of punishing game users as it sought to bypass the rules of the App Store.

“Their reckless behaviour made pawns of customers, and we look forward to making this clear to the European Commission,” said Apple’s spokesperson in a tweet.

Epic’s been one of the most prolific developers in the App Store, expanding into a multi-billion dollar enterprise that serves millions of iOS users around the world, including the EU.”

Epic, Spotify, and others forced the influential EU antitrust authority to launch a series of cases against Apple in June, covering both its App Store and its Apple Payment Service.

Apple has angrily dubbed Spotify’s and others’ concerns “baseless” and characterized them as sour grapes from businesses who do not wish to agree with the same laws as anyone else adopting their terms.

Apple—along with Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft—is also threatened in Europe by a recent regulatory measure, the Digital Markets Act, which seeks to restrict its digital omnipotence.

But the proposal, launched in December, is just at the beginning of a legislative phase that should have taken years.

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