It’s been over a whole year since Epic Games waged war against Google and Apple. While the fight with the latter will soon be entering its appeal phase, the one with the former has yet to begin in earnest. But before it does, the internet search giant has filed its own counterclaim against the maker of Fortnite.
As a reminder, Epic Games declared legal war against both companies by allowing gamers to pay for microtransactions without using either platform’s payment system. The crux of the counterclaim revolves around Fortnite on Android still being available to Android users even after it was pulled from the Google Play Store.
Adding to that is the fact that players could still sidestep Google’s payment system, allowing Epic Games to not give the former its cut of microtransaction sales. And Google wants what it is owed, in addition to other damages, attorney’s fees and the other usual extras in legal battles.
The service tax, as it were, is most likely a contractual obligation for Epic Games to pay to Google and Apple. The verdict for the Google side of this legal battle will likely end the same way as the Apple half did. In other words, Epic Games will still have to pay Google its cut if someone bought V-Bucks via the Play Store version of Fortnite.
Of course, emphasis is on the Play Store version of Fortnite. If an Android Fortnite player sideloaded the game rather than getting it from the Play Store, then Google is not entitled to a cut of sales made via that version. Which makes the Google side of the legal battle more complicated than the Apple battle.
(Source: Scribd, TechCrunch)
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