Epic Games, the developer of the popular game Fortnite, has sued Apple and Google after the two took down Fortnite from their respective app stores. The removals had come after Epic Games started allowing users to pay directly to them for in-app purchases, by essentially bypassing the official payment mechanisms that both Apple and Google mandate. The app was not present on the Indian app stores at the time of publication, MediaNama has verified. What led to the removals: At the heart of the issue is Epic Games’ decision to provide Fortnite users a payment mechanism to pay directly to the developer, which the company already uses for Fortnite apps on PC, Mac and the Epic Games Store. On top of that, purchases made by the direct payment method were priced lower compared to the mechanism mandated by Apple and Google. While the company did not specify why it introduced this payment method, it is safe to assume that it bypassed the mandated in-app purchase mechanism to not share a cut of the revenue with Apple and Google. Both companies charge a commission on in-app purchases from anywhere between 18% to 30%. [caption id="attachment_219728" align="aligncenter" width="881"] The alternate payment method introduced by Epic in the Fortnite app[/caption] "The open Android ecosystem lets developers distribute apps through multiple app stores. For game developers who choose to use the Play Store, we have consistent policies that are fair to developers and keep the store safe for users”, Google said in an emailed…
