Epic Games’ famous battle royale game Fortnite met a sorry fate when the game maker allegedly sidestepped Google Play Store and Apple App Store policies to introduce a direct payment feature to the gaming app. Fortnite was immediately deleted from the two ecosystems, shortly after which Epic Games filed a lawsuit against both Google and Apple seeking justice to “allow fair competition” in mobile app distribution. Now, Google seems to be countering the move. According to a report, Google has announced that it will bring a motion to dismiss the complaint filed by Epic Games against it.
The search giant would file the motion, challenging Epic Games’ suit “based on circumstances unique to Android,” the company’s lawyers announced. If Google’s motion is upheld, it will mean a blow to the game developer and publisher, who would be compelled to drop the case before it really begins.
Additionally, Google has also opposed the merger of Android and iOS cases. In its filing, Google said, Epic v. Google and Epic v. Apple should not be lumped together, though the company said it was in favor of combining any Android/Play Store antitrust cases. Such pending cases include the Pure Sweat Basketball case and the Carr v. Google case.
In its argument against the supposed merger of cases, Google’s filing noted that “both the cases are at different stages of proceeding,” and that the two platforms have not much in common except that they compete with each other to attract developers and users to submit and download apps.
Google argues Apple allows the distribution of apps only through the App Store, whereas Android users can download apps through multiple stores and developers can distribute apps through their own websites also. There is no word on whether Apple will also take on Epic in a similar manner or will it let the law take its course.
