A recent post covered how huge game publisher and developer, Valve, had been roped into the ongoing legal battle between Epic Games and the tech giants of both Apple and Google for changes made within their game on mobile to enable a direct payment method for in game currency, circumventing the 30% commission that is usually applied to in-app purchases and breaching the terms and conditions, leading to Fortnite being removed from the app stores entirely.
Much of the issue has come as Epic are claiming that the 30% commission is too monopolistic and changes need to be made, with the other side claiming that the game has earned huge success through the exposure on the platform which has led to the game growing to the size it had been as one of the biggest esports titles in the world back in 2019 and a huge market at esportsbetting.site to back up the growth it had been experiencing – but a more noticeable change could be on the way as a proposed legislation change in Arizona could see Fortnite added back to the app store with little change needed.
The bill, if passed, is largely focussing around loosening rules around payment processing options which would essentially give Epic Games the ability to add their own direct payment method regardless of the existing terms of service for the marketplace they’re represented on – this does come with some stipulations, the first being that the company has to be located in Arizona as well as hold more than one million downloads per year in order to qualify to make the change, although there are some hints being made that as long as you’re an Arizona resident, you still fall under the same bill and will still have the opportunities to purchase away from the in-app options that give 30% to the tech giants.
Whether or not the bill passes and goes into law is a different matter, but the lawsuit and changes like this are starting to signal that there may be big change on the way in the tech space as the big names like Google and Apple have always had a tight grip around what can and cannot be done on the platforms – it may not matter if the change is passed into law as other states and countries may look to follow with their own spin on how these marketplaces should be controlled, and it may render the legal battle obsolete if each individual market institute their own change to ensure a fair marketplace for both the individual end user and the developer.
