‘Fortnight’ and Epic now have bigger issues than Apple – BGR

• Epic Games is currently engaged In a heavily publicized legal battle Over apple Fortnight, Which is currently unavailable on iPhone, iPad and Mac following Epic’s App Store violations.
• Epic now faces a much bigger problem than the antitrust action on Apple. The U.S. government is examining how various U.S. companies maintain personal data security, including Epic.
• Chinese conglomerate Tencent holds a majority or minority stake in these companies, with a 40% stake in Epic.

Epic Games started a war, knowing that it could not be won – at least not yet. The company is silently updated Fortnight An app for iPhone and iPad with code that enables Epic Payments option for in-app purchases. Apple immediately banned the app, and Epic launched a PR campaign against the iPhone maker, while at the same time suing Apple and Google in the anticompetitive arena.

In the days that followed, we learned that Apple had gone even further than banning the app, saying that Epic would withdraw both of its developer accounts Fortnight And unrealistic engine. Epic tried to stop it with a temporary restraining order But lost the battle Fortnight. The judge said it was injuries that Epic could fix on its own if it wanted to. But the verdict stated that the Unreal Engine should not be affected. Epic continues its PR campaign, Apple claims that is completely wrong, And makes it clear that it does not budge. Apple withdrew Fortnight Developer account without blink, and now The game does not play on iPhone, iPad and Mac. A new trial in the case is set for Sept. 28, and the fate of both Fortnight And Unreal are still in the game.

The Apple lawsuit turned out to be Epic’s most important issue right now. This organization may have a bigger adversary than the US government form.

If you remove all the PR smoke and lies that Epic Pedals make, there is no qualification for Epic’s antitrust suite targeting Apple. There is a need to change the App Store rules, including the tax that Apple receives for digital purchases. At some point in the future the U.S. government will tell everyone, and that kind of decision will affect other digital stores as well, including the game store fronts on Google Play and consoles.

Before we get to that, Epic will have to confront the government for a different reason: China.

The tech conglomerate has a 40% stake in Tencent Epic Games, which includes riot games. It has stakes in other US companies, including Activision Blizzard, Discard, Reddit and Snap. Bloomberg Reports The Trump administration has now asked companies to provide information about consumer data security.

The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) sent letters to Epic, Riots and Blizzards, asking about security protocols containing personal data of American consumers.

This is another intensification in Trump’s war on China after the administration Popular Chinese apps move against TikTalk and WeChat. The latter is also a tense creation.

From the outset, CFIUS has been considering overseas acquisitions of American businesses for national security risks. This committee has the power to examine the full acquisition and minority share and to make recommendations to the President to prevent and terminate agreements.

“When you talk about huge amounts of data, the committee may have something to look forward to,” Aymen Mir said Bloomberg. Mir conducted CFIUS reviews in the Treasury Department when he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Investment Security. “Then the question becomes, which is the higher the risk, which is forcing contracts.” He said the committee has traditionally looked at protecting sensitive data such as health, finance and government-employee information, but now it is expanding its scope.

Going forward it is unclear what will happen. Bloomberg Intelligence The ulates suggest that Tensent runs the risk of forced withdrawal, similar to TickTalk of ByteDance. Bloomberg Tencent says its US assets are worth at least $ 22 billion. With the Oracle front runner-up following Microsoft’s departure, the Trump administration has asked tech companies to consider buying the US side of the TicTac business. Bite Dance sued the administration.

More information about the WeChat and TickTalk restrictions will be announced by the Department of Commerce on September 20th. Reuters Already reporting The Trump administration is going to block US downloads of both applications.

No matter how long the Epic vs. Apple fight takes, Epic will have to deal with the Tense issue first. The Reuters The report states that the action on WeChat and TikTok will not affect other businesses, including Tencent’s online gaming operations.