Recently Fortnite, the Epic Games 'MegaGame', offered players the choice to buy their in-game goodies direct from Epic. Save 20% on in-app purchases normally tied to the Apple and Google run Mega Marts. Cut out the giants from their 30% cut of all those digital bucks. The result? Apple and then Google removed Fortnite from the App Store and Google Play.

If this were a movie about chess or some other cinematic back-and-forth where moves were being made by powerful players -- well, that was the move Epic Games anticipated.

Within hours a "65-page lawsuit" appeared "in federal court in Northern California" (source) with Epic Games suing Apple over the anticipated move.

And then this, a parody of Apple's famous commercial depicting a PC-run world without Macintosh -- similar to George Orwell's 1984. Except this time Apple is Big Brother and Fortnite is the saviour we've been looking for... to save 20% on in-app Fortnite purchases. Anyway, it's worth a watch.



According to the lawsuit, "Apple’s removal of Fortnite is yet another example of Apple flexing its enormous power in order to impose unreasonable restraints and unlawfully maintain its 100 percent monopoly over the iOS In-App Payment Processing Market."

To which Apple spokesperson Fred Sainz replied with, "Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services."

Of course, Epic didn't hold back from Google. To quote Jules from Pulp Fiction (1994), they got medieval on they ass too. With that subsequent lawsuit stating, "In 1998, Google was founded as an exciting young company with a unique motto: Don’t Be Evil. Twenty-two years later, Google has relegated its motto to nearly an afterthought, and is using its size to do evil upon competitors, innovators, customers, and users in a slew of markets it has grown to monopolize."

Google also claims a violation of its policies. No doubt this move from Epic is a calculated one, and is in response to companies that tightly control where, when, and how developers are able to generate revenue. In response to the suits, Spotify (a company that takes an advantage of a loophole relating to subscription fees outside of Apple's reach) has come out in support of Epic Games noting, "Apple’s unfair practices have disadvantaged competitors and deprived consumers for far too long."