It’s always fun watching big evil corporation duke it out, but Epic has thrown hands regarding duels with some specific companies. One of the biggest questions in the Epic Games vs Google trial is why the publisher hasn’t taken Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to court over service fees similar to Google and Apple – and now we know.
Epic filed antitrust lawsuits against Apple and Google after Fortnite was removed from their storefronts during a disagreement about service fees. The Fortnite developer disagrees with the 30% fee that mobile firms take from microtransaction sales. The publisher also believes that Apple’s closed ecosystem, which doesn’t allow third-party app stores, is anti-competitive.
During the ongoing Epic vs Google trial, Epic’s chief financial officer Randy Gelber gave a taped deposition explaining why the publisher hasn’t filed a lawsuit against console makers. Gelber said that there is an inherent difference in cost structures between game consoles and mobile platforms.
“We believe those [consoles] to be competitive markets and we believe that the fee, their cost structure, is entirely different than a mobile app store,” the executive said.
Gerber further expounds that console makers sell hardware at a loss, justifying the need to charge developers for sales and microtransactions. The company executive adds that the cost of customer service is also higher for console makers.
“Well, they subsidize hardware, so they sell their hardware, as far as I can tell from widely published reports, at a loss, and so the fee needs to cover that. Mobile apps are typically low in size and so their costs are higher, and I think their customer service costs are higher because people don’t call Google about apps, they call the developer generally.”
Gerber may have missed the fact that both Google and Apple sell their own mobile hardware while console makers also implement closed ecosystems. However, it is a known fact within the industry that console makers sell hardware at a loss and make up for it by selling games.
The trial also revealed that Google estimates the damages it is owed by Epic to be around $400,000. According to economist Dr. Gregory Leonard, Epic Games earned $1,329,709 during the period when Epic allowed direct payments for microtransactions.
Closing statements and a verdict on the lawsuit are expected next week. Judge James Donato already ordered both parties to hold settlement talks before the trial resumes on Monday. Epic was previously mandated to pay Apple around $3.5 million in damages.
The company was also recently ordered to pay $520 million in refunds for unwanted purchases while playing Fortnite.
(Source: The Verge)
