The gaming giant Epic Games (Fortnite) is embroiled in a conflict with Apple and Google. Epic believes that they want to take too high a percentage of revenues when games are distributed through their large app stores. Now Epic is taking new paths: they have engaged a lobbyist who has initiated a bill in North Dakota. The law would completely change the app market.
This is the crux of the conflict: Anyone wanting to distribute an app via the Google or Apple app store has to give up to 30% of their revenue. Epic Games has been fighting against this, which they consider too high, since August 2020.
Their online shooter Fortnite was removed from the app stores after Epic circumvented Apple’s payment model in an act of rebellion, allowing users to purchase in-game currency in Fortnite through their own system. This left Apple feeling cheated out of its fair share.
This conflict has been going on for over six months, with court proceedings and public statements from both sides. Now Epic is taking new paths: they are relying on politics, a lobbyist, and a senator in the somewhat sleepy U.S. state of North Dakota.
This is what the New York Times report says: The New York Times reported over the weekend (via NewYorkTimes):
- Epic hired a lobbyist in January 2020, Lacee Bjork Andersson – she works in Bismarck, North Dakota, a city with 74,000 inhabitants
- The lobbyist wrote a bill and convinced Senator Kyle Davison to submit this bill in North Dakota
- The law targets Apple and Google, who take up to 30% of app revenues in their app stores
- An Apple employee, Chief Privacy Engineer Erik Neuenschwader, says: This law poses the danger of “destroying the iPhone as we know it”
60-year-old senator submits law against “Big Tech”
This is what the senator says:
He is completely astonished that his bill is making such waves that even the New York Times wants to talk to him. He says:
“She [the lobbyist] told me it would be big. For me, it meant: A local newspaper would come by with a camera. It wouldn’t be honest to say: I expected this reaction.”
The senator, a Republican, says: He actually wanted to deal with completely different issues, birth certificates for the homeless and a $200,000 program against illiteracy, but then he was convinced by the lobbyist’s arguments.
“The end of the iPhone as we know it”
What is the bill about? The draft prohibits Apple and Google from mandating app developers to use their payment system, through which they collect their share.
Furthermore, the tech companies would have to allow users to download apps from other sources than the app stores. Google already allows this; Apple does not.
What are the reactions? From a key employee at Apple, there is the statement: If the bill passes, it could “destroy the iPhone as we know it”. (via imore)
The Times quotes a Danish tech entrepreneur. He says this is just scaremongering by Apple. If the law in North Dakota passes, it would certainly be a blow against Apple, but not necessarily the end of the iPhone. Apple only fears that the dam will break and further dams will break when the law in North Dakota goes through. The Danish tech entrepreneur says he is ready to open an office in North Dakota if he can save the 30% fee to Apple.
Apple is reportedly lobbying aggressively against it
This is what the lobbyist says: She criticizes Apple. They would be conducting “aggressive lobbying” and have started Zoom calls with every senator. But Andersson says: This may not go over well in North Dakota if lobbyists from California come in and tell locals what to do.
According to the New York Times, the 47 senators of North Dakota are expected to vote on the bill later this week.
The entire topic of “Epic vs. Apple” and how the dispute over the “30% fee” began is covered by us on MeinMMO in this article:
What lies behind Fortnite 1984, the attack on Apple and #FreeFortnite
