Apple has been indicted in a lawsuit of monopolizing the mobile gaming market by keeping competitors in the market for subscription gaming services away from the iPhone.
The practice results in higher prices and fewer options for gamers who subscribe to Apple Arcade, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in San Jose, California. Subscribers to the service download games that can be played on their various Apple devices.
Apple’s App Store rules have kept Microsoft, Google and Facebook, all big players in the mobile games market, out of the iPhone app store after it launched the service last year, according to John Pistacchio of New Jersey, an Apple Arcade subscriber who says it has been forced to “pay supra-competitive prices” due to the company’s “anti-competitive conduct”.
Apple blocked competing services for a number of reasons, including because they stream games directly from the internet rather than being installed on the iPhones themselves. Apple has also blocked individual apps from offering access to multiple games, meaning launching rival services on the iPhone is essentially impossible.
In September, Apple eased its restrictions on third-party game services, allowing such apps if they meet complex requirements.
Tech Central
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