TECH NEWS – Tim Sweeney and Epic Games have found a new ally in the Far East. Apple and Google are protesting, and the US president’s cabinet is not happy about the decision.

 

Epic Games is in a legal battle with Apple and Google over the alleged existence of two monopolies around iOS and Android. After all the lawsuits and statements, some people may not remember that the origin of it all is that external payments were introduced within the mobile versions of Fortnite to avoid paying fees. Well, Tim Sweeney‘s fight seems to be gaining a following worldwide. Judges in South Korea have passed the world’s first law forcing Google and Apple to allow external payments on their platforms.

This decision sets an important precedent in the Epic Games battle. According to The New York Times, the South Korean judiciary has passed this law, which will force app stores to allow different payment methods, including off-platform gateways, for all in-app purchases. It is an amendment to the country’s Telecommunications Business Act, prohibiting giant companies like Google and Apple from introducing their payment methods.

 

Korea is first in open platforms!

Korea has rejected digital commerce monopolies and recognized open platforms as a right.

This marks a major milestone in the 45-year history of personal computing. It began in Cupertino, but the forefront today is in Seoul. https://t.co/Jd6Xfnef9o

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) August 31, 2021

 

The newspaper says it also wants to prevent companies from “unfairly delaying mobile content reviews and unfairly removing mobile content from their stores”. In other words, precisely what happened a year ago with Fortnite, when both companies removed the game from their stores based on such external payment methods, led to a lawsuit by Epic Games. The new change has met fierce opposition from Apple and Google, which hold 85% of the South Korean mobile apps and games market.

Two South Korean lawmakers claim that Google representatives directly contacted the National Assembly to block the proposal. “Google is a company that wants to maximise its profits. Of course, people like us: the judges are against those who are trying to push this law through,” says Park Sungjoong, one of the amendment’s sponsors.

 

 

Joe Biden’s cabinet, for its part, has expressed concern that this law could cause tensions between South Korea and the United States. Epic Games has reason to be happy about a decision that indirectly agrees with them on the existence of iOS and Android monopolies. All this while still awaiting the outcome of their lawsuit against Apple in the US.

Source: The New York Times